WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — Warner Robins city employees could see a little extra money in their paycheck in the not too distant future.
Mayor and council started Monday night talking about getting a pay scale study, but by the end of the discussion, council moved to another option -- adjusting city employees' current pay scale and then doing a pay study.
Director of Public Works Craig Clifton believes his department, along with all city employees, deserves a raise.
"You raise that pay scale across the board for us and be able to compete with those companies outside," Clifton said.
He says raising their salary will also help their workers keep up with rising costs.
"Being able to compete with them is the main factor, so we have to raise the pay. That would help us out greatly," Clifton said.
At Monday's meeting, a few council members agreed.
"These essential workers hold the city together and they need to be awarded appropriately. We need to make these jobs that we have available attractive for new employees, and we need to do it for retainability as well," council member Derek Mack said.
Mack says the city is holding job fairs, but people are walking away because of pay, so he wants all city employees to get a raise.
But a tight July 1 deadline is just around the corner for the city's new budget year.
So, Human Resource Director Toni Graham suggested adjusting all city employees' current pay with a vote by mayor and council, and then doing a pay study down the road.
She says a pay scale study could take anywhere from six to nine months.
"Let's go ahead and do the pay adjustment and then we can really adjust the entire pay scale, once we do the budget and trim fat from other areas," Mack said.
According to Graham, two-thirds of the city's current employees are working on a pay scale set in 2015. The police department saw an increase in 2019, but everyone else is still working on that 2015 pay scale.
"Any type of adjustment is great for the employees, but obviously a pay study talking about the timeframe we've been in, talking over the years, any type of pay study can't do anything but help," Clifton said.
The next step is for council to agree on a percentage to increase the pay.
There is no specific timeline or any figures right now, but mayor and council's goal is to increase salaries before the July 1 budget goes into effect.
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