The Española City Council realizes there is a cost of living increase, which is why the Council Nov. 26 approved, by a 4-3 vote, an across-the-board 5 percent cost of living adjustment for all city employees, excluding elected officials. Mayor Pro-Tem Dennis Salazar and Councilors Robert Seeds and Peggy Sue Martinez cast the ‘nay’ votes.
Salazar acknowledged the need for city employees to receive the living adjustment. However, Salazar said he was not in favor of the measure as he felt it wasn’t fair to the lower-paid employees.
“Yes, there are many hard working city employees who do deserve the 5 percent increase that was approved last night but there are certain areas where I feel that it should have been set up in tiers,” Salazar said.
Salazar said a better route was to distribute the adjustments based on how much each employee earns, an idea Martinez had brought up during the Council meeting.
“I feel people making $50,000 and over would be allowed a 2 percent cost of living adjustment,” Salazar said. “Employees making $40,000-$49,999 get a 3.5 percent (raise). All employees that make under $40,000 get the 5 percent (raise). I don’t think it was fair to the lower-paid employees.”
Salazar said there is an inherent inequality in approving an across-the-board living adjustment and how that affects the different levels of salaries.
“Someone making $55,000 will be getting a cost of living adjustment of $2,750,” he said. “An employee making $30,000 will be getting a cost of living adjustment of $1,500. That is a difference of $1,250. I do not see much fairness to that for the lower-paid employees.”
Seeds also voted against the measure, citing how lower-paid employees deserve as much of a living adjustment as the city’s high-end earners.
“It was across the board and I didn’t think that was fair,” Seeds said. “I thought it wouldn’t be fair to the employees that no one seems to look after,” adding that the low-end earners make up the majority of the city’s personnel.
Martinez, who was disappointed with the outcome of the vote, said she was in favor of giving city employees a living adjustment but took issue with how the adjustment was distributed. Martinez was not in favor of an across the board living adjustment.
Martinez found it ironic that both she and Seeds voted against the measure since both of them, during their campaigns, had promised to better the lives of city employees.
Councilor Elaine Herrera voted for the living adjustment and said city employees were long overdue for the pay bump.
“Our employees haven’t seen raises of any form or a cost of living adjustment in seven years,” Herrera said. “As I stated in the meeting, based on my research, the cost of living for regular goods such as milk, gasoline, postage stamps, has increased anywhere from 9 to 41.6 percent within those seven years. However, our employees’ salaries have remained flat for that same time period.”
Herrera said the city should do whatever it can to help its employees financially as the nation recovers from its worst recession in decades.
Administrative services director Joyce Sandoval said the general fund will be tapped to cover the cost of living adjustment for 102 employees; 15 employees will receive their adjustment from the water utility fund; and funding will also be drawn from the utility wastewater fund to cover the adjustment for nine employees.
The Council also discussed an overall pay increase for city employees but decided to table the item for further discussion.
The following is a breakdown of the options Duran presented to the Council and to the Finance Committee on Nov. 20:
• Five percent: $212,917 (total salaries); $16,290 (related employer taxes); $229,207 (total cost); $1,690 (average cost of living increase per employee)
• Four percent: $170,334 (total salaries); $13,031 (related employer taxes); $183,365 (total cost); $1,352 (average cost of living increase per employee)
• Three percent: $127,750 (total salaries); $9,767 (related employer taxes); $137,517 (total cost); $1,014 (average cost of living increase per employee).
According to city records, 81 percent of the city’s salaries are drawn from the general fund, totaling $3.45 million. The remaining 19 percent of the salaries come out of the utility water and wastewater funds, for a total of $812,214. The total salaries for city employees are $4.26 million and the average salary is $33,796.
The Finance Committee had approved the cost of living adjustment at its Nov. 20 meeting.
Remember
the furloughs
Salazar expressed concern about the city’s spending, citing how last year city employees were placed on furloughs to offset budget shortfalls.
“We just had furloughs a year ago and those furloughs should never have happened,” he said. “I don’t want to see that happening again to our employees. I want to ensure the employees are taken care of, for they are what makes the city run. But at the same time, I want to ensure that our citizens’ needs are being met and the city doesn’t go into a deficit again.”
Salazar also said he would have supported the measure had more research been conducted to ensure the city could afford to approve the living adjustment.
“I do agree, our employees are well-deserving of cost of living increases but I felt there should have been more research done into this by our governing body to ensure we are being completely fiscally responsible and fair to each employee,” he said.
Salazar said the Council could have been more responsible in distributing the living adjustment.
“It is the responsibility of the entire governing body to be fiscally responsible and to ensure that our citizens are taken care of at all times,” Salazar said. “I do not feel this was completely fiscally responsible in the way that it was done.”
Martinez also stressed the importance of the Council managing the city coffers wisely.
“I would hate to see it come back and bite us.” she said.
Herrera said, “It is a rough economical time and I feel it is important that, when possible, we try to help our staff somehow,” she said. “Our employees are the ones that keep this city running and I felt it was a critical item on the agenda which needed to be handled last night. I am hopeful that in the future we can look into and plan for a raise which will be based on merit.”