Tag: COLA

2024 budget notebook: Monroe County council looks to do more for lower-paid workers

Monroe County council on Oct. 3, 2023 clockwise from left: Cheryl Munson, Marty Hawk, Geoff McKim, Kate Wiltz, Jennifer Crossley, Peter Iversen, and Trent Deckard.

At its work session on Tuesday night, the Monroe County council took up some leftover issues from its deliberations on the 2024 budget—salaries towards the upper end of the scale,  as well as those at the lower end.

Towards the higher end of county compensation, though not at the very top of the scale, are the salaries for elected officials like auditor, assessor, clerk, coroner, commissioners, county councilors, recorder, surveyor, and treasurer.

The county council settled on increasing the salaries of elected officials by 8.5 percent, compared to 2023. That’s the same percentage increase that other county workers will receive.

The council also agreed on Tuesday that for some jobs on the lower end of the county’s salary grid, they would increase the pay by 55 cents an hour—on top of the 8.5 percent increase that other employees will receive. Those lower-paid jobs are classified as COMOT (computer, office machine operation, technician) in the county’s salary grid. Continue reading “2024 budget notebook: Monroe County council looks to do more for lower-paid workers” →

Monroe County pay raises: Final discussions appear mostly done, but not for elected official salaries

About four hours into a meeting last Tuesday, Monroe County council president Kate Wiltz was looking to wrap up a topic that was leftover from discussions of the 2024 budget—pay increases for elected officials.

The elected positions under discussion are: auditor, assessor, clerk, coroner, commissioners, county councilors, recorder, surveyor, and treasurer.

Wiltz announced, “I would entertain a motion on what we should do with elected officials and their chief deputies, with respect to 2024.”

In the Nat U. Hill room of the Monroe County courthouse, where the county council meets, Wiltz’s invitation was met with about 20 seconds of silence.

“All right. Wow. We have to do something,” Wiltz said.

But on Tuesday, the council left open the question of pay increases for elected officials in 2024. The topic of pay for elected officials will be taken up on the night of the county’s budget hearing, which is set for  Oct. 3 at 5:30 p.m.

If the county council decides to treat elected officials like all other employees, they’ll get an 8.5-percent raise.

Even though the county council did not reach a consensus on pay increases for electeds, they did settle on an approach for some other employee categories that, until Tuesday, had been open questions. Continue reading “Monroe County pay raises: Final discussions appear mostly done, but not for elected official salaries” →

Monroe County council heads towards goal of 8.5-percent raises for employees in 2024

Marty Hawk and Geoff McKim. Monroe County council (Sept. 20, 2023)
Kate Wiltz and Trent Deckard. Monroe County council (Sept. 20, 2023)
From left: Marty Hawk, Geoff McKim, Kate Wiltz, Trent Deckard, and Peter Iversen. (Cheryl Munson attended on Zoom.) Monroe County council (Sept. 20, 2023)
Bottom to top: Cathy Smith (auditor), Brianne Gregory, Molly Turner-King, and Kim Shell. Monroe County council (Sept. 20, 2023)

Based on the deliberations among county councilors on Wednesday night, Monroe County employees will likely receive 8.5-percent raises in 2024 compared to their pay this year.

But no final decisions were made. The council did undertake some adjustments to get closer to the goal of 8.5-percent raises.

There’s still some dust that needs to settle on the provisional adjustments to the 2024 budget that were made by the council on Wednesday. And the final vote on the budget won’t come until Oct. 17, after a first reading on Oct.10.

The formal public hearing on the county budget is about two weeks away, on Oct. 3. Continue reading “Monroe County council heads towards goal of 8.5-percent raises for employees in 2024” →

Monroe County council looks at boosting employee pay in 2024: “We have our work cut out for us.”

Monroe County council (Aug. 22, 2023)
Monroe County council (Aug. 22, 2023)
Monroe County council (Aug. 22, 2023)

On Tuesday night, Monroe County councilors opened a discussion about next year’s salary increase for county employees.

A starting point for that discussion is 6 percent. No decisions were made on Tuesday. The county’s budget process will unfold over the course of a couple of weeks starting Sept. 6.

The 6-percent number is based on the December 2021 to December 2022 consumer price index increase (CPI) for the Midwest region, as calculated by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. That figure has long been used by the county council as a reference point for pay increases.

As the fiscal body for county government, it’s the county council that makes the final decision on the budget. Continue reading “Monroe County council looks at boosting employee pay in 2024: “We have our work cut out for us.”” →

$129M in 2023: Bloomington mayor asks city council to approve 21% bigger budget for next year

Bloomington city council (Aug. 29, 2022)
Bloomington mayor John Hamilton (Aug. 29, 2020)

The 2023 budget  that has been proposed by Bloomington mayor John Hamilton comes in at $129.2 million, which is about 21 percent more than last year.

That’s the figure in city controller Jeff Underwood’s memo, which was released on Monday at 2 p.m. A  news release came a few minutes later.

Hamilton delivered the proposal to the city council on Monday evening.

The budget reflects a 5-percent pay increase for non-union workers, plus a $250 quarterly bonus, for a total of $1,000 in bonuses.

Hamilton’s presentation was followed by a financial overview from city controller Jeff Underwood and an overview of compensation by human resources director Caroline Shaw.

After that, the council received departmental budget briefings from several departments: human resources; clerk’s office; legal department; information and technology services; city council; controller; and office of the mayor.

The departmental budget breakdowns were released last Friday.  The departmental budget presentations to the council will continue over the next three nights, all starting at 6 p.m.  The B Square will report reaction from councilmembers separately.

The $129 million reflects all of the city’s departments, but does not include city of Bloomington utilities, Bloomington Transit, or the Bloomington Housing Authority. Adding in the budgets for those three entities brings the total to about $229 million.

Changes residents will notice

Part of the budget proposal includes reductions in some city services, increased costs to residents, or changes to current practice.

Continue reading “$129M in 2023: Bloomington mayor asks city council to approve 21% bigger budget for next year” →

2023 Bloomington budget highlights: 24 new jobs, potential increases for trash fees, parking rates

A department-by-department breakdown of Bloomington mayor John Hamilton’s proposed 2023 budget was released on Friday.

Still missing from the release are memos from city controller Jeff Underwood and human resources department head Caroline Shaw, which are supposed to include an overview of city-wide finances and salary/benefits.

Those memos were described early Friday as forthcoming.

But responding around 9:15 p.m. on Friday to a B Square query, communications director Andrew Krebbs indicated the memos would not be issued that evening. Krebbs also could not give an estimated time when they would be produced.

[Updated at 2:23 p.m. on Aug. 29, 2022. The memos were released around 2 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 29: controller/HR memos]

Based on a B Square parsing of all the relevant tables in the 346-page document, the proposed total expenditures for all the departments in the city amount to around $117 million, or at least $10 million more than last year. Those figures do not include the budgets for Bloomington Transit, city of Bloomington utilities, or Bloomington Housing Authority.

The $117 million is an unofficial total, not just because it can’t be confirmed against the controller’s memo. The figure does not include lost revenue due to circuit breakers (tax caps) or debt service.  For 2022,  the tax caps accounted for about $0.5 million, while debt service came in at about $2 million. Continue reading “2023 Bloomington budget highlights: 24 new jobs, potential increases for trash fees, parking rates” →