Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012

Apex council votes to keep the change

Initial pay hike was accidental

The Town Council decided to keep a $1,000 raise after discovering their pay was among the lowest in southwestern Wake County.

In addition, the council will automatically receive a pay increase every year based on the consumer price index.

The $1,000 raise was approved last summer as part of a one-time increase for town employees. Three members on the Apex council, including the mayor, said they had no idea the raise applied to the council.

At one point council members considered giving the money back, but after surveying surrounding communities the personnel committee recommended keeping the raise.

"You sort of realize even with adjustment, Apex is on the low end of all the like-sized communities," said Councilman Terry Rowe, chairman of the personnel committee, during a recent meeting. "Understanding that, the adjustment didn't seem out of line. (We) recommend it continue as it was passed previously."

Apex council members made $6,677 before the raise while Morrisville's council makes $9,400 a year and Fuquay-Varina's council makes $7,512 a year. Both towns have smaller populations.

Even with the raise, Mayor Keith Weatherly makes about $200 to $5,000 less then the mayors of Cary, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina and Morrisville. Weatherly now makes $9,861.

The last time salaries for the mayor and council were raised was in 2008 when they increased by 3 percent, according to the town.

The decision to retain the $1,000 was not unanimous. Councilman Lance Olive was the sole dissenting vote.

"My reason for opposition was the point of what we did last summer was to reward employees," Olive said. "This being a side affect of what happened, I thought this was an opportunity to put things as they were."

Olive's vote against the measure sparked outrage from Weatherly.

He said during Tuesday's meeting that Olive, then a member of the personnel committee, was one of only two council members who knew the increase applied to the council.

"You were aware it was discussed in personnel and wasn't brought to us. It's disingenuous," said Weatherly.

Town Manager Bruce Radford had told the personnel committee about a 1989 policy where any cost-of-living increase for town employees would be passed along to the mayor and council.

Olive defended his vote, saying his issue was with the procedure.

"I voted 'no' because what they did was a study to justify a decision that had already been made," Olive said. "I wanted to undo the other vote and have a discussion on whether we needed a raise or not."

Olive voted against the $1,000 flat increase in June 2011 as well. He pushed for employees to receive merit pay instead.

"When we brought it out into the council, we did not recommend across-the-board," Olive said. "It's not incumbent to personnel committee to make points for all the arguments for a position we're not supporting. (It's) up to town manager to let you know if it was affecting you in any way."

The council also voted to change the 1989 policy. Now the council will automatically receive cost-of-living increases every year based on the consumer price index. The amount cannot exceed the rate given to employees who receive merit pay.

This year the $1,000 raise averaged about 2 percent for employees and between 11 percent to 15 percent for the council.

Councilman Bill Jensen originally said he wanted to give the money back but changed his mind after reviewing the pay scale survey results.

Voting on whether to keep the money was the right thing to do, he said.

"I wanted to make sure it was very overtly done," Jensen said. "I didn't like the way it took place."

He also said voting to give back the money would make more work for staff.

"To take money out of salaries was going to be a giant brouhaha mess," Jensen said. "Better to just let it go."