>> CITY OF MILLEDGEVILLE
New budget passes as officials look for revenue sources
Employees of the City of Milledgeville will see increases in their salaries on their July 21 paycheck, and for some, the pay hikes will be substantially higher than for others.
The budget adopted by the council at its June 27 meeting sets up a new pay scale that calls for a minimum starting salary of $15 per hour. Based on that starting point, all employees will receive a pay increase, but the exact amounts will differ.
According to figures released by City Manager Hank Griffeth for the new fiscal year that began July 1, the total budget for the General Fund increased by $1,455,263, a substantial part of that for additional employee compensation.
Most of the attention during the budgetary process had centered on salary increases, particularly those in law enforcement and the fire department. The total for salaries in the police department increased by $404,528, 19.1 percent, and employees’ pay in Fire Rescue Services went up 20.8 percent or $344,023.
According to a list showing salaries and increases for city employees, there is a wide range of salary adjustments. The city manager is the only full-time employee who did not receive a raise. He serves at the pleasure of the mayor and council.
Milledgeville Police Chief Dray Swicord, who had been very vocal in his request for pay hikes, was appreciative of the salary adjustments.
“I’m grateful they finally recognized the need. It gives us a salary we can compete with now. I’m very thankful,” he said. “It’s not an overnight fix for sure, and I think you’ve got to continuously look at this because overnight it can change.”
Swicord said in recent months that Milledgeville’s starting salary was below almost every agency in the area, even smaller towns. He publicly stated adjustments to the initial salary level had to be made for his department to survive, and, when informed of the updated figures, he was somewhat surprised at what the mayor and council approved.
“As a matter of fact, the starting salaries went higher than I anticipated,” Swicord acknowledged. “I was ecstatic about it and grateful for what they did. I think they finally realized they had to do something, and my officers and myself are very grateful.”
The chief also said in April he was down 13 officers at that time, with others considering leaving. He said this week that the new salary levels are already producing results.
“I’m getting calls now from people who want to apply,” Swicord said, “so that’s a blessing.”
City Council member Walter Reynolds acknowledged salaries have lagged in recent years, as other communities have increased wages following the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The rising costs of wages and materials have been unavoidable, and during the last year and a half, we lost a significant number of experienced law enforcement and firefighting professionals to other communities that had raised their wages for those departments,” Reynolds said.
“Our community deserves skilled, dedicated and professional police officers and firefighters, and those men and women deserve living wages for the service they provide.”
An increase of $1.4 million in expenditures means revenues for the year must increase by a like amount, and Griffeth included several sources of additional funding in the approved budget, which he outlined at a recent work session.
Griffeth discussed likely annexations, which would net potentially $350,000, an increase of one mill in property taxes, which would bring in up to $478,525, and additional funds from three user-fee sources.
Council members agreed to include $90,000 in revenue from a new coin-operated amusement machine ordinance, which Griffeth proposed the city adopt prior to Jan. 1. He estimates there are some 30 locations that have a minimum of at least three of the amusement game machines.
Griffeth also said he is proposing a 3 percent excise tax on alcohol sold in restaurants and bars, the tax to be paid by the consumer per drink. He estimates that will produce approximately $200,000 per year.
The city manager then recommended increasing alcohol license fees by a total amount of $25,000, “to come in line with other ‘college’ towns,” he told mayor and council.
Those five increases, if the estimated amounts are collected, would total $1,143,525 to offset the increase, due primarily to salary adjustments. That would still be $300,000 below the anticipated expenditures increase, and Griffeth said he is looking at adjustments to the costs for medical insurance to staff members as well as a conversion from defined benefit to defined contribution retirement plans for employees.
Further, he said, it is possible the millage rate may have to be adjusted more than one mill, but that number won’t be set until the fall, when the tax digest is finalized.
Reynolds acknowledged that the increased salaries dictate the need for more revenue.
“As for the additional revenue needed to pay for these services, part of that will be a tax on alcoholic drinks. I have reached out to the restaurant owners in my district to inform them and hear feedback on the proposed changes, and, while no one is jumping for joy at higher fees, they do understand the reasoning,” Reynolds said.
Griffeth said the salary increases are the result of not only the realization that Milledgeville’s employee pay is lower than surrounding communities but also the formulation of a new pay scale.
“The pay scale we were working under prior to this one was created in 2012,” he said. “There had not been any adjustments to actual figures since then.”
Work on the new pay plan began by putting into place the federal poverty guideline figures of $30,000 for a family of four as a minimum.
“Then, I found out the county had upgraded their pay scale to where no one on their staff was making less than $15 per hour,” he added. “I went back and put that figure in our pay scale and went from there.”
The city’s plan utilizes pay grades, with steps within each grade. Griffeth used the salary levels in place following 4 percent pay increases last year to put employees at appropriate grades and steps, with some adjustments for those in law enforcement and fire/ rescue.
Each staff member was given a one-half percent increase for each year they had been at their current position. They were then put in the closest step with that salary as part of the formulation of the new pay plan.
“Besides getting folks the increases,” Griffeth said, “I guess you could say the secondary purpose of what we did was to try to get people re-centered back on the pay scale.”
The adoption of a new pay scale is the first step of the city’s plans.
“We do not have a system where there is a COLA (cost of living adjustment) in place or a system where there is a merit increase. We’ve got to do something like that with the new pay scale we have created and goes into effect with this new budget.
“Because, if we don’t,” he added, “we’re going to get compressed and get behind, just like we did before.”