Minutes 04/30&05/02/1985 - Laserfiche WebLink

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April 30, 1985 enjoy the absence supply and allow lng be granted by of significant parking problems; however, to continue such a favorable for proper maintenance, I propose fee increases in short and long term park- the Parking Authority and City Council. Education Again, as last year, I am able to recommend to City Council the adoption of the School Board Budget as proposed by the School Board. I have mentioned earlier that the Commonwealth of Virginia has begun to recognize their responsibilities in educational funding. This year's State increase amounts to nearly 20%. Likewise, the School Board has requested and received from the City Council substantial increases in local participation. This year, the local share is approximately a 10% increase. Even though I am recommending the request of the School Board to be fully funded, it may not be possible to continue such local increases in the future without commensurate increases from the State. The Superintendent of Schools has recommended a 12% increase in salaries for school teachers. The School Board has endorsed this recommendation. Certainly the school teachers' salaries need to be competitive with the rest of Hampton Roads, and I feel that the Council and the School Board in the last three years have made great strides toward this effort. However, in discussions I've had with the Superintendent of Schools, he has agreed to keep in parity those salaries of employees not considered school teachers to the salary increase that I propose for City employees. I com- ment the Superintendent for his efforts to promote quality education for our children and yet maintain parity with the City for non-instructional personnel. Tax Relief for the Elderly and Disabled Again, as in the past year, in an effort to offset rising assessment of properties be- longing to senior citizens, I recommend to City Council that we increase the ~ncome limit for the elderly and disabled from $10,000 to $10,500 and increase the net worth limitation from $35,000 to $36,750. It is estimated that if Council adopts this recommendation, it would cost nothing additional due to the offsetting impact of inflation on personal incomes. Business Licenses Several yea~s agoethe General Assembly enacted legislation requiring the reduction or rollback of certaln business license rates. The rollback required to go into effect in May, 1986, will result in an overall reduction in Business License Tax revenue of approximately $50,000. Employee Compensation The proposed budget contains a general wage increase to employees of 5% as well as suffi- cient funds to continue with the implementation of the salary survey that was approved by City Council last year. Consistent with last year's approach, where current personnel classifica- tions are more than 10% below the prevailing wage rate for similar positions in the survey, I have recommended an additional salary adjustment. Since my arrival in 1982 you have granted these gradual increases in an effort to attain competitive salaries for our employees. By phasing in gradual increases in the last three years, we have made remarkable strides in re- ducing severe deficiencies. If you adopt this budget, we will no longer be, as I stated in 1982, the training ground for the rest of Hampton Roads because of low salaries. Comparing our st~m~ in the Tidewater Salary Surveys of 1982 with 1984 shows that our public safety classes generally have gone fro~ nearly 16% ~elow the area average to less than 7% as a group. Because of the emphasis in public safety, the starting salary of firefighters has improved from -9% in 1982 to +~ in 1984. Although the protective services are perhaps the most dramatic example of our City's improved pay position, nearly all other classes have benefited to some extent. The gradual adoption of the salary survey allows us to be more com- petitive; however, in most categories, we are still below the averge of the rest of Hampton Roads. The 5% general wage increase recommended in this year's budget helps to offst the cost of living that has occurred in previous years. The cumulative Consumer Price Index in the last five years was 36.8% compared to general wage increases for the same period of 22.5%. Finally, I am recommending that our retired employees receive a 3.63% increase in their pensions. Even though there is no requirement to increase retirement pensions, I feel that there is a moral commitment to this segment of our former employees. This percentage increase is exactly the same rate that will be implemented by the Virginia Supplemental Retirement System and will apply to over half of our retired employees. I take great pleasure in informing the City Council that for the second year in a row, now ~c~e~se~sin our Blue Cross/Blue Shield medical payments will be necessary and that the payments for both the employees and the City will not change. However, the cost of coverage under the City's group life insurance policey which some of our employees enjoy, has increased from $0.87 per $1,000 of coverage to $I.01 for the same amount of insurance, a $0.1~ increase. I am recommending the equal sharing of $0.07 each (City,Employee) on this rate. This action should result in a minimal financial impact on our employees. SUMMARY I believe this budget begins to implement the Goals and Objectives adopted by City Council on November 20, 1984. These goals are: