Mooresville Town Council passes 2023 salary ordinance
MOORESVILLE - Everyone working for the town of Mooresville will receive a $2,500 raise, and those sticking around will get much larger longevity awards.
The Mooresville Town Council unanimously approved the town's 2023 salary ordinance Nov. 15, electing to award equal raises to all town workers and increasing longevity payments to long-term employees by 300%.
The decision means that employees across all departments will receive a $2,500 raise. A new longevity scale has also been created in a bid to improve employee retention.
"There is disagreement up here at times and I think talking about those in public results in a better product," Council member Shane Williams said. "I don't always give the council president credit but I think he came up with a great compromise here for town employees. It is not quite the first plan as far as right now but I think it makes for a great future for the town."
Council member Jeff Cook agreed the plan will help the town improve employee retention.
"(Council President Tom Warthen) has put in a lot of hard work and effort into this and I appreciate that sincerely," Cook said. "I think it shows a good faith effort to all employees that are going to walk away tonight if this is voted through with a substantial pay raise, not just the $2,500, but we are rewarding the long-term employees and that is going to help us with retention. I think that is one of our big goals here because the turnover rate is pretty high. It always has been and the departments they are leaving from is our public safety."
Although the 2023 budget was already approved in a 4-1 vote last month, it did not apply to the salaries of town employees. The council still had to approve its salary ordinance before any decisions on salaries were finalized.
What is the new longevity scale?
From now on, employees will be financially rewarded based on the number of years they have worked for the town. The longer they are town employees, the higher their bonus. A longevity scale already was in use but employees will now receive much higher payments as a result of the decision.
Employees must work for a minimum of five years before they are eligible for longevity payments. Workers employed by the town for five to nine years will receive a $1,500 bonus per year while employees who have served between 10 and 14 years can expect $3,000 annually.
Those serving even longer, between 15 and 19 years, can expect bonuses of $4,500 and anyone who has worked for 20 or more years will receive $6,000.
Longevity earnings will be paid in equal increments bi-weekly throughout the year. This will mostly be covered by insurance savings the town will receive in the new year after it approved modifications to its employee prescription drug plan. The changes will save the town around $450,000 annually.
Background
The decision marks the end of a debate the council has been embroiled in since mid-October. The point of contention revolved around Mooresville Town Council President Tom Warthen making adjustments to the proposed 2023 budget that was originally advertised during the town's budget public hearing on Oct. 4.
Police Chief Kerry Buckner originally had requested a $4,000 raise for patrolmen in a bid to make the town's wages more competitive with neighboring police departments. Warthen reduced that request by $1,500, bringing the amount to $2,500 instead. The proposal brought the requested salary total for 12 patrol positions from $685,287 down to $667,287.
Buckner has previously said he wanted to improve the department's retention rate by offering more competitive packages, including higher pay.
The fire department also wanted higher salary increases, having requested $3,100. Warthen opted to offer $2,500 raises to all town employees instead of approving the police and fire salary proposals to even out raises across all departments.
Warthen said no money was built into the advertised budget to accommodate raises for the fire and police departments.
Councilman Shane Williams raised objections about the timing of the budgetary changes.
Williams said these changes were done after a public hearing for the budget was held in early October. No objections were made by the council or public during the hearing. He later explained that council members were not notified of the developments until around 5 p.m. the night before the 2023 budget was adopted on Oct. 18.
The council eventually decided to table making a decision on the salary ordinance earlier this month.
Mooresville's 2023 budget, including the salary requests, can be viewed online at Indiana Gateway.
The next regular meeting of the Mooresville Town Council is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 6, at the Mooresville Government Center, 4 E. Harrison St., Mooresville.
This article originally appeared on The Reporter Times: Mooresville Town Council passes 2023 salary ordinance
