Retroactive raises for employees - Mike Rasor's blog

Stow City Council returned from August recess with committee meetings on Monday evening. Here is what happened:

Roll-off dumpsters – The planning department proposed legislation to regulate the use of roll-off dumpsters on residential property. If the law passes, a property owner will need a permit to use a dumpster for more than 30 days. In no case will a dumpster be allowed for food waste, nor be permitted to be placed upon grass. I plan to make some minor amendments to the legislation, but it mostly seems reasonable.

AED program – City council kicked around questions and suggestions regarding my proposal to issue a tax credit for the purchase of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). I’m going back to the drawing board to make some revisions that were suggested by my colleagues. I held the legislation in committee for the time being.

Employee pay raises – Stow has five unions with which it negotiates contracts every three (or so) years. We generally find that each union agrees to the same deal. This cycle, the unions agreed to pay more for health insurance, but to receive Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) that offset the increased healthcare contributions.

Stow has an ordinance automatically applies these healthcare contribution changes from the unions to the 83 nonunion employees. The catch is, the nonunion employees have not yet received a COLA increase to offset those healthcare contributions.

Mayor Drew has proposed filling that gap, by giving nonunion employees a 1.5 percent COLA increase for 2013 and 2.0 percent COLA increase for 2014. This increase will also apply to two elected officials — Law Director and Finance Director. The COLA changes will be retroactive to January 1, 2013. The proposal will cost about $80,000 this year and $130,000 in 2014.

I agree completely that nonunion employees should not take a hit — without receiving the counterbalancing raise. But I do not agree with making the raises retroactive. For some reason, Mayor Drew has a fixation on giving employees a bonus in the form of retroactive raises. It’s the second time she has proposed retroactive raises. When we can’t even balance our budget, I think it’s imprudent.

Mayor Drew also proposes that, in the future, we automatically give nonunion employees the same COLA increases that are received by AFSCME (the union that represents our service department employees). Mayor Drew also has a fixation on taking away City Council’s charter-given authority, and this is another example. It makes no sense for an automatic increase; allow the City Council members who are elected at that time decide that matter when it arises.

I won’t vote for the automatic AFSCME tie-in. It’s a bad idea for another reason: AFSCME is the only union that can strike.

But I will vote for the COLA increases, on two conditions: 1) They can’t be retroactive. Rather, they should begin in conjunction with the healthcare premium increases. My amendment will save taxpayers $50,000 in year 2013. 2) Elected officials should be exempt. When we run for office, we know the salary. Raises for elected officials are not appropriate.

9/11 Memorial – The city will unveil its 9/11 memorial at City Hall Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. The public is welcome to join.

Tough Mudder – So you’re wondering what I did during council’s recess? I completed the 10.5-mile Tough Mudder obstacle course (click here for explanation). We ran through fire, were submerged in mud and ice, crawled through dark tunnels, and otherwise abused our bodies (in a good way). I didn’t break a bone, drown, or have anything awful happen to me — so I consider it a success. I’m dumb enough to sign up for next year. You can click here to watch a video of what we went through. Along with this post, I've posted an “after” picture of our Stow team.