After 12 years with no raises, NLR aldermen head for 2nd in row

After receiving a pay increase this year for the first time in 12 years, North Little Rock aldermen are in line for a second consecutive bump in their pay, as proposed in a series of resolutions to provide raises for all elected officials and city employees in 2017.

Six resolutions to be in front of the North Little Rock City Council at its meeting Tuesday cover nonuniformed employees, full-time salaried workers, fire chiefs, firefighters, police officers, police supervisors and the city's 11 elected officials.

The council's final scheduled meeting of the year has been moved to Tuesday because the city will observe the Christmas holiday Monday.

The resolutions are somewhat of a technicality, though a required action. All raises are already accounted for in the city's 2017 general fund budget of $66.3 million approved by the City Council at its Dec. 12 meeting, city Finance Director Karen Scott said. The new salaries will be effective Jan. 1.

City Council members agreed at a budget workshop in early November to allow 2 percent raises for city employees, including the mayor, city clerk/treasurer and city attorney. Pay increases for police officers and police supervisors -- sergeants, lieutenants and captains -- are based on revised salary schedules agreed to by police unions.

The 2 percent increase for the eight city aldermen amounts to $213 more per year each. Aldermen's salaries were increased by 3 percent to $10,609 as of Jan. 1 this year, their first pay raise since 2003. As part-time employees, city aldermen had previously been excluded from salary increases that the three full-time elected officials received.

Alderman Murry Witcher is sponsoring the resolution involving the elected officials' pay. Mayor Joe Smith is the sponsor for the others.

"We've got the money and are giving all other employees raises," Witcher said of including city aldermen in his resolution. "We [the City Council] have to do legislation for the city clerk, mayor and city attorney [raises] anyway.

"It's a nominal amount for the eight of us and the three of them," Witcher said, noting the little impact on the budget with or without the aldermen included. "It's about $200 a year for the eight of us each, so about $1,600. If someone were to pull the aldermen out of the legislation, I wouldn't be opposed to it."

The total of all pay increases will account for $1.28 million in the 2017 budget. The money will come from the $2.62 million from the carryover, or reserve, fund that the city will use to balance its 2017 budget, Scott said. The carryover of funds is an accounting measure only and doesn't involve an actual transfer of city money, Scott said previously.

The city rewarded employees and elected officials with 3 percent raises a year ago. In addition, the salaries for Smith and City Clerk/Treasurer Diane Whitbey were raised by almost $17,000 and $5,000, respectively, to be more in line with similar officials in other cities, based upon an Arkansas Municipal League survey.

City Attorney Jason Carter is the city's highest-paid employee at $131,329 annually this year. The mayor's annual salary is $120,000, and Whitbey's is $71,000.

Metro on 12/22/2016

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