City employees could get raises of 1 to 3 percent
By Tim Horan, The Salina Journal, Kan. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
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Gage said the raises would be based on performance.
After the meeting, Gage said that because merit pay is staggered based on employment date, the budget for salaries would increase by only 1.2 percent in 2015.
Franz said the preliminary budget also calls for a 15 percent increase in health care costs.
The city has a self-insured health insurance plan, with employees paying a portion of the costs. He said health care costs increased 7 percent in 2013 and 7 percent again in 2014.
Four things are pushing up the health care costs, Franz said.
The first two factors are the actual cost of health care and the higher level of utilization.
There also is the factor of the former
"We are not receiving income but still are paying for claims (made before
Franz also said there have been three or four recent large claims.
"That's the nature of the beast when you self-insure," Commissioner
Bond rating unchanged
Franz also gave commissioners the good news that the city's bond rating will not go down.
"We were concerned that might change," Franz said. "They now have a scorecard. I saw where we could have issues."
At a previous meeting, Franz said that
He said
"If we had
"We still have a strong bond rating," Gage said.
Gage said there have been lower ratings nationally because of the economy.
Hardy asked about the rating of other cities. Franz said
Mobile home parks discussed
Also at the study session,
"I don't think we have any that are compliant today. Maybe one," he said.
City staff will look into cleaning up the current ordinances and report back to commissioners.
Schrage discussed the difference between a manufactured home and a mobile home and different code regulations.
Many of the mobile homes do not meet codes but are grandfathered, or allowed to remain because they existed before the codes were approved, he said. Manufactured homes are prebuilt and are installed as permanent homes, and are regulated by federal laws.
"Mobile homes are not considered real estate," said
Park regulations date to '50s
Schrage said mobile home park regulations date back to 1953. He said several mobile home parks were approved by the city commission with specific requirements.
"Assuming that parks are found to be noncompliant with the applicable ordinance requirements as well as conditions of approval, it is likely that they have been noncompliant for many years and have been issued mobile home park licenses notwithstanding their violations," Schrage said.
Householter said that most nonconforming property is required to conform to current code if it is vacated for 12 months.
The commission discussed eliminating parks because manufactured homes can be installed in residential areas.
"We don't need parks anymore," Commissioner
She said people living in the homes have a right to live in facilities that conform to city codes.
"A whole lot of our complaints come from parks," Crawford said.
-- Reporter Tim Horan can be reached at 822-1422 or [email protected].
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