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” →

2023 budget notebook: Monroe County council recommends 5% pay raise for planning purposes

Monroe County employees could be looking at a 5-percent increase to their pay in 2023, while inflation is running a few points higher than that.

At their Tuesday night meeting, Monroe County councilors voted unanimously to recommend for current budget planning purposes that a 5-percent cost-of-living adjustment be made to county employee compensation.

That’s the amount that will be used by staff as they draft the 2023 county budget.

Tuesday’s vote to recommend a 5-percent increase came after county board of commissioners president Julie Thomas reported to the council that the commissioners support an increase that’s nearly double that amount—9.5 percent.

The figure supported by commissioners is based on comparing the June 2021 to June 2022 consumer price index (CPI), as calculated by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics for the midwest region.

It’s the county council’s typical approach to look at the December-to-December numbers for the previous year. Comparing December 2021 to December 2020, the current CPI shows a 7.5-percent increase. Continue reading “2023 budget notebook: Monroe County council recommends 5% pay raise for planning purposes” →

Bloomington’s municipal workers turn out for city council meeting, labor negotiations continue

From left, Bloomington city councilmembers: Sue Sgambelluri, Susan Sandberg, Dave Rollo, Matt Flaherty, Ron Smith and Isabel Piedmont-Smith.

AFSCME member Stephen French.

AFSCME members who attended the Aug. 3, 2022 meeting of the city council.

AFSCME member Steven Robertson.

AFSCME Local 2487 president Bradley Rushton.

Councilmember Dave Rollo (right) speaks with AFSCME members after the Bloomington city council’s Aug. 4, 2022 meeting.

About two dozen AFSCME members attended the Bloomington city council’s Aug. 4, 2022 meeting.

A couple dozen members of the AFSCME Local 2487 attended Bloomington’s Wednesday city council meeting, to highlight for councilmembers their ongoing collective bargaining negotiations with mayor John Hamilton’s administration—without getting into details of those talks.

As Local 2487 president Bradley Rushton put it, “I cannot discuss any aspect of the current state of affairs between the union and the city reps.”

But union members are looking for better compensation than their current four-year contract gives them. The current labor agreement runs through the end of 2022.

The acronym for the union name stands for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The union includes workers in utilities, the street and fleet divisions of public works, parks and recreation, sanitation, and the animal shelter, among others. Rushton serves the city as a fleet maintenance master technician.

Rushton led off his remarks during public commentary with a word of thanks to the city council for supporting the police union in their efforts to negotiate better compensation. In September last year, the city council passed a resolution supporting more money for police officers.

The police union is on the same four-year contractual cycle as the AFSCME workers. Earlier this year, in mid-May, the city council approved a contract with police officers that started with a 13-percent increase in the first year.

The city’s administration had made the police contract contingent on the council’s approval of an increase to the local income tax, which the council gave in early May.

Rushton told the city council that fair compensation has to address the rate of inflation. Continue reading “Bloomington’s municipal workers turn out for city council meeting, labor negotiations continue” →