Seven full-time Town employees that primarily work from Tracy Hall will be receiving raises that average over 16%, if the budget is approved by voters. For context, police officers in Norwich are getting a 3.68% increase in pay. My Social Security check went up 1.7% this year. Wall Street bonuses rose 8% in 2012.
Call me a Tea Party wannabe, but those bumps (jumps!) in pay strike me as imprudent. Norwich faces significant but not budgeted expenditures in the coming years: $200,000 for communication gear on the Tower (with or without VTel), at least $500,000 for record restoration, and $2 million for a new police and fire station. These are spread over years but the cumulative budget impact is unknown.
The uncertainty is not just for big ticket items. Union contracts expire this June. We might add hours for an assistant Town Clerk. In addition, the Town Manager wants to let employees choose cash in lieu of benefits, which no doubt will cost the Town more. And, health care costs in 2014 will be more uncertain than usual as Norwich is required to be part of a health exchange.
The Condrey and Associates report was not cheap, costing $15,000. Norwich has 20 full-time employees, 9 of which are in a union. Why did the Town need to hire an international consulting firm to develop a plan for 11 non-union workers? That is over $1300 per employee.
Admittedly, the study covered union and part-time employees, making the total 29. But if Norwich needs an expert from afar to set part-time wages, then the Town Manager is not doing his job. Union pay is set through negotiations, not by reference to a study.
The Town did not hire a consultant for advice on economic terms with VTel. Negotiating a tower lease must be at least as complicated as setting wages.
Town Manager Fulton wanted a classification and compensation plan to treat employees uniformly. He told me that a prior Town Manager had gone “local and cheap” and got little to show for it, wasting $6000. However, as noted in the Valley News, getting Norwich to adopt a step-and-grade compensation plan is a project Mr. Fulton "has been working on since 2002,” when he was on the Selectboard. Was it needed? If so, a flawed consultant’s report is not the way to go.
For critiques of the Condrey and Associates report, check out the Finance Committee listserv post on March 1, Harry Roberts letter to the Selectboard on November 30, my blog post from January 17 and the charts on the municipalities surveyed by Condrey and Associates and on the percent increase in pay.
How did the Selectboard and Town Manager respond to the outcry about jumps in pay? They reduced spending by $50,000. But only $4800 was cut from salaries -- less than 1.4% of the amounts involved and only from three employees. Seven employees are getting big increases. The Selectboard approved the budget by a 3-2 vote. (Moran and Cook voted no).
The elephant in the room is the Town Manager's pay. At over $97,000, he makes nearly 23% more than the next highest employee. The pay is a stretch for Norwich but circumstances support it. But, it is not a basis to give big raises to others, particularly when the Finance Committee cannot justify the increases after looking at market data. Similarly, if the Town is overpaying some employees, that needs to be sorted out over time. Defter management and Selectboard vigilance for taxpayers seems a better course than simply handing out big raises.
To me, it almost appears as if some members of the Selectboard are afraid to say “no” to the Town Manager, rather than fight for the taxpayers. Telling is the action of the Selectboard regarding the Town Manager's pay. On January 9, the Selectboard approved a cost of living increase. Town Manager Fulton said the increase was “unacceptable” and reflected poorly on his performance, because it was $614 less than the “scale” set by Condrey and Associates. CATV [01/09/13 Selectboard, minute 211- 220]; Valley News.
At the next meeting on January 16. the Town Manager presented a revised budget, making the cuts in the dollar amount - $50000 - the Selectboard requested. What was ADDED to the budget was the full amount the Town Manager wanted, not the lesser amount the Selectboard had approved by a vote a week earlier. No member of the Selectboard called the Town Manager out on this action.
LINKS:
http://catv8.org/videos-demand.html
http://lists.valley.net/lists/arc/norwich/2013-03/msg00017.html
http://norwich.vt.us/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/SBc121130-Roberts.pdf
http://norwichobserver.blogspot.com/2013/01/salary-study-by-condrey-associates.html
http://norwichobserver.blogspot.com/2013/02/percent-increase-in-wages.html
http://www.vnews.com/news/3766559-95/fulton-budget-selectboard-town
http://www.vnews.com/news/townbytown/norwich/4397511-95/town-budget-selectboard-increase
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