What began as a strong effort to turn the tide in wages somewhat for those working in public safety for the City of Greenville, ended as such for nearly all city employees.
In its latest and final budget session, the Greenville City Council voted 3 to 1 to allocate $1.2 million in raises to police and fire personnel — from rookie to major and rookie to captain respectively — and to distribute a $500,000 increase throughout other city departments, excluding department heads and salaried positions.
Council members Al Brock, Vernon Greenlee and James Wilson accounted for the three votes of “aye” while Councilwoman Lurann Thomas-Kingdom’s was the dissenting vote.
Councilwoman Lois Hawkins abstained from the vote and Councilwoman Tasha Banks was not present for the vote.
Essentially, police officers would receive a $2.25 per hour increase and firemen, a $1.50 increase which amounts to a gross of roughly $4,680 respectively.
The city’s external financial consultant, Steve Osso, noted the difference in the number of working hours per year for employees in each department with fire personnel working 2,920 hours and police, 2,080.
With Monday’s budget hearing for the fiscal year 2021-2022 having been a mere days away, time was of the essence and well spent when it came to reaching a consensus on what to do with the $1.7 million that had been established as funds to be allocated for raises.
During a prior budget session, the council came to a consensus that $1.7 million would be allocated to raise wages for police and fire personnel.
However, during the council’s most recent budget session, members questioned the decision to give raises solely to police and fire personnel and not others working for the city.
Thomas-Kingdom informed the council of a call she had received from a city employee concerning a water plant on Union Street and that they, too, asked for pay raises.
She alluded to the sometimes, very arduous conditions under which such employees work when completing street and sewer projects for the city.
“They feel slighted, because they see that everything is going to police and fire, but yet they remain out in the boiling hot sun, doing the job that they are doing,” Thomas-Kingdom said. “So, I’m asking this council that they would consider working and trying to find some revenue for those employees over on Union Street at the water plant.”
Greenlee echoed Thomas-Kingdom’s sentiments, pointing out that it is not just those working at the water plant, but mostly all of the other city employees.
“I don’t know what kind of message we’re sending, but we’ve got to take care of our fire and police, they’re our first responders, but I just feel like we’ve got to try and do something for all city employees, no matter how small or how big,” he said, highlighting the importance of keeping morale up across all departments.
Wilson agreed and asked how it could possibly be done at that juncture in the road.
Mayor Errick Simmons highlighted that in the recent past, increases have been awarded to those in some departments, but a significant amount of time has gone by since such has been done for those working in the police and fire departments.
“To be fair, we try to address the issues when they come to us and there’s always unlimited needs and wants, but there are limited resources and we know that very well by going through this process,” he said. “We want to show our appreciation to all employees and all of you are valued and respected and deserve more money, but the question is how do we get there.”
Osso reminded council that as they get deeper into SRF (sewer revolving funds) loans, it is taking more of the city’s sales tax money.
“Starting October 1, we’re going to be taking over $1.4 million out of our sales tax money, which is cash, out of our general fund,” he explained. “With fire and police, you’re taking a huge amount out of your general fund and that just isn’t happening one year, they’re going to have these raises continually.”
Brock reflected on the discussion regarding street and sewer employees as well as first responders and reiterated how important the employees of all of the departments are.
He then suggested the council consider “spreading out” the $1.7 million.
Greenlee said while he had no problem with the initial consensus when it came to raises for police and fire, he could not with a conscience mind do that and not do something for the other city employees.
Banks asked about the possibility of sticking to the initial consensus of allocating $1.5 million in raises to fire and police and down the road, if the city can afford it, do something in terms of increases for other city employees.
Thomas-Kingdom, who was of a similar opinion, said, “It takes every department to make this city work and we certainly understand that. If we budget this time for fire and police, the next time we will budget for other departments.”
She added, “We can’t budget for them all at one time because of COVID, the money we don’t have and because of what COVID has done to affect the whole U.S., but when we get it, they would be the next people in line for whatever raises we can give them.”
As the inevitable pleasure of the council concerning the $1.7 million approached, final comments from members of the city council were heard.
Councilman and Vice Mayor James Wilson conceded that while all city employees should be able to enjoy an increase in pay, current circumstances allow for only so much.
However, he and Greenlee were in favor of Brock’s recommendation to spread out the $1.7 million, allocating $1.2 million to the police and fire departments and a half million to all other departments with the exception of department heads.
Thomas-Kingdom suggested the council acknowledge the $1.7 million for police and fire and Hawkins agreed.
“One thing to keep in mind is when overtime starts piling up on this, you’ve got to be watching some budgets because this is all straight time,” Osso noted.
Brock made a motion to give a $2.25 per hour increase to police officers from rookie to major and a $1.50 increase to fire from rookie to captain and to distribute a $500,000 increase throughout other departments, excluding department heads and salaried positions. The motion carried 3-1.
