Non-union employees would not get pay increase this year

Ironton Mayor Rich Blankenship has proposed a resolution that would mean non-union city workers would not receive a pay increase this year. The proposal was just one of several ways of trimming the city’s budget that Blankenship discussed at a meeting of the city council’s finance committee Wednesday evening.

“I know we have to make some changes, and I’m prepared to make those changes,” Blankenship told the committee and a handful of city department heads and employees who were present in council chambers.

Additionally, the mayor has proposed that non-union city employees contribute half of their pension, which is 10 percent of their salary.

The mayor said he expects the city to save $39,000 per year with these changes.

Besides changes to non-union salaries and benefits, the mayor has also changed one city job from full to part time. The city’s utilities administration assistant has been a 5-day-a-week job, but starting Feb. 28, that position will be three days each week.

Blankenship is also proposing changes to the city’s regulations concerning dumping at the city garage. Currently the city allows residents to dump trash at the city garage twice a week during 3-hour time slots. Residents just have to present a utility bill as proof that they live in the city. The city pays for the trash to be put in the dump.

This is costing the city a tremendous amount of money, the mayor said.

“If we really want to be serious about cutting back, this is a way,” Blankenship said.

Between trash pick-up and the service at the city garage, the city pays approximately $273,000 for sanitation each year.

Sanitation superintendent Mike Pemberton told committee members that about half of the material dumped at the garage is from construction, and much of that is from contractors.

Many times people from other cities with access to Ironton utility bills dump at the garage illegally, the mayor said.

The proposed regulations include limiting the amount of trash dumped at the garage to one pickup truck load each month for each landlord and resident, changing the service times from twice to once each week for three hours and prohibiting construction materials.

The mayor said these are a draft version of the changes he wants to make. Between now and the time it is heard at a council meeting, more changes could be made to it.

The committee did not take action on the ordinance Wednesday, aside from favorably recommending it and the salary resolution to the rest of the council, which will likely hear it at its next scheduled regular meeting.

Finance Director Kristen Martin said the city is currently projecting a $19,000 deficit. That deficit takes into account a 4.6 percent cost increase to employees for hospitalization, as well as the changes the mayor has proposed.

That deficit is down from two weeks ago, when Martin said it was at $85,000, Blankenship said. The city has to have a permanent budget in place by March 31. The city is well on its way to meeting that goal, the mayor said.

Martin said her goal is to have a $5 million budget and not a dollar more. The city’s revenue has not exceeded approximately $4.9 million, she said.

“We can’t spend more than we’ve got going in,” Martin said. “We don’t have the carryover to sustain us.”

The city is currently in the process of negotiating contracts with all three of its employee unions: fire, police and AFSCME.

“I feel it’s going well so far,” Blankenship said. “We’re not reserving anything (from the unions). We’re doing what we can to reach an agreement. We have had really good open discussions.”

The next regular meeting of the Ironton City Council is 6 p.m. Feb. 24 at the city center. The council will likely hear the first reading of the dumping regulations ordinance and the salary resolution.