The News Tribune 01/02/2001
Martha Modeen; The News Tribune
Nearly 100 professionals and managers who work for the City of Tacoma will receive pay raises between 4 percent and 21 percent as the new year begins.
The pay hikes are one-time adjustments to elevate below-market salaries in the highly competitive Puget Sound region, officials said. A 1999 survey showed that some city salaries lagged behind comparable government jobs in the region.
The City Council approved the pay raises as one of the last business items of the year, with seven of nine council members supporting the move. Councilman Kevin Phelps, who voted in favor of the raises, said city employees shouldn't be expected to work for cut-rate pay.
"You don't attract quality if you're not paying commensurate with the rest of the market place," Phelps said. "What we're trying to do is start going to a performance-based pay system."
But the pay hikes became a hot-button issue for council members Steve Kirby and Dave De Forrest, who voted against the measure.
Those getting market-rate adjustments also will receive a 3 percent cost-of-living raise along with the majority of the city's 3,000 workers.
"It's a scam, it really is," said Kirby, who represents South Tacoma. "We make our working people scratch and fight for a cost-of-living raise, and then we give 20 percent raises to people that are going to cost us the most. It's just ridiculous."
The salary adjustments come at a time when the city is negotiating with Tacoma police and fire unions on new contracts.
A Tacoma police union spokesman declined comment on current negotiations or the recent salary adjustments. But a Tacoma fire union official said the salary hikes for managers and professionals would prompt firefighters to ask for more money.
Firefighters are being offered a 3 percent annual salary increase for a contract length yet to be determined, said Pat McElligott, president of Firefighters Local 31. Firefighters want up to a 3.9 percent raise, he said.
"We don't see anything objectionable to the (manager) pay raises, but we also deserve what we're asking for," McElligott said.
Tacoma's human resources manager Phil Knudsen said raising salaries for city jobs may never be convenient.
"This would put pressure (on other salaries) no matter when we did it," he said.
Here are a few of the new salaries for City of Tacoma professionals:
* The equal employment officer will make $29.46 an hour, up 15.4 percent from $25.52 an hour.
* The information technology manager will make $36.27 an hour, up 10.8 percent from $32.74 an hour.
* The television production coordinator will make $24.66 an hour, up 21.7 percent from $20.27.
* Some civil and electrical engineers will make $24.17 an hour, up 8.3 percent from $22.31 an hour.
Despite a slowing economy, the job market is still competitive for attracting good employees, particularly in high-tech and specialty skill jobs, Knudsen said. Engineers, for example, have been difficult to recruit away from high-paying, private-sector jobs.
"For people with good skills, it's still a very, very tight labor market," he said.
Roberta Pauer, a labor economist who tracks Puget Sound area employment trends for the state Department of Employment Security, agreed with Knudsen that a competitive regional market has pushed salaries higher.
Pauer noted that a labor shortage has prompted employers to increase wages faster than the cost-of-living rate. Employers have been awarding 4 percent annual wage increases on average, while the cost of living, as measured by the consumer price index, has been rising by about 3 percent a year for the past three years, she said.
"Bottom line, employers - whether public sector or private sector - have to pay what everybody else is paying," she said.
To arrive at its new pay grades, the City of Tacoma surveyed 82 job classifications for 100 employees, comparing them with other jobs in the region or, in some cases, across the nation.
Twelve job categories did not need raises. About eight clerical employees in the human resources department, who are among the few not represented by unions, will receive 7 percent salary adjustments.
Pay adjustments were scheduled in 1999, but postponed because of budget constraints.
The city hopes to evaluate the salaries for the remaining 300 or more nonunion employees within the next few years, officials said.
In a related move, the city eliminated longevity pay for executives that granted up to 4 percent increases for years of service. Future pay raises for executives will be based on merit.
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* Staff writer Martha Modeen covers Tacoma. Reach her at 253-597-8646 or martha.modeen@mail.tribnet.com.
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SIDEBAR: More for Council, too
Tacoma City Council members are receiving a 2.75 percent annual salary increase, effective Jan. 1.
Most council members' pay rises from $29,000 to $29,798.
Some council members, who were in office in November 1999 when the new pay rate took effect, still earn $18,000. Their salary will rise to $18,495.
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