Story posted Wednesday, February 3, 2010
No Pay Hikes For City Staff
There'll be no salary increase this year for 25 of the city's top non-union employees.
Aldermen unanimously agreed Monday night that 16 non-union, non-management employees will not receive a pay hike in 2010. Earlier, aldermen chose not to increase the pay of the city's nine department/division head employees.
The reason why the salaries have been frozen at 2009 levels is because of bleak economic conditions that have gripped the area and nation, according to Acting City Manager Jason Slowinski.
Management employees who are just under department heads, such as executive secretaries and certain technical workers, usually receive general wage increases every year similar to union employees who benefit from collective bargaining. A proposal to expand the salary ranges for those employees also failed to garner city council support as Monday night's city council meeting. Those pay ranges will also be frozen.
As for department and division heads, they normally receive salary hikes as high as 6% based on performance evaluations by the city manager. This year, they will not receive merit hikes.
Last year those same employees elected to forgo salary hikes due to the sour economy.
Nearly all other city employees have received pay increases during the last year and will in 2010 because of elective bargaining. Those increases amount to between roughly 2% and 3.5%.
The city of Des Plaines employs approximately 350 full-time employees.
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