He also said the city will move to narrow Washington and Jefferson boulevards downtown.The Allen County Council agreed to spend $71,000 next year to provide raises to 11 top-level administrators, completing a five-year process to update salaries and wages for county employees.
The council voted 5-2 to provide the increases as part of departments’ 2010 budget allocations. Councilmen Roy Buskirk and Paul Moss, both R-at large, voted against the raises.
Several council members said they did not want to give raises this year because of concerns about the poor economy.
Councilman Darren Vogt, R-3rd, said he expects the economic climate will be brighter as of January. He urged the council to take action instead of putting off a decision until budget time to complete a multiyear project to update county salaries and wages.
The council began the pay study after Memorial Coliseum officials sought increases for several top administrators in 2004. The county previously didn’t compensate executives for their years of service, and their salaries increased only if the council granted a cost-of-living adjustment.
Rank-and-file county employees, however, receive periodic pay increases for their years of service plus cost-of-living increases.
In 2007, the council agreed to spend $1.5 million the following year to ensure rank-and-file workers performing similar duties were being paid about the same.
The money also provided raises for dispatchers and jail workers. The council also granted raises for sheriff’s officers.
In December, the council increased three elected officials’ salaries and then tackled chief deputies’ wages in January and March.
Elected officials or oversight boards sought increases for 11 of 28 eligible executive staffers. Increases range from $3,800 to more than $10,000 extra a year and were less than the appointing authorities requested.
Jeff Leffers, court operations director for Allen Superior Court, will see the biggest raise with an extra $17,000 next year, according to the county auditor’s office.
Officials receiving $71,356 worth of raises next year are Dave Fuller, building commissioner; Dan Freck, director of buildings and grounds; Dan Avery, director of the Northeastern Indiana Regional Coordinating Council; Sheila Hudson, director of Allen County Community Corrections; Ed Harris, deputy director of community corrections; Tim Miller, Circuit Court administrator; and Joe Brita, superintendent of the Allen County Juvenile Center.
Several Superior Court staff received raises too, including Jerry Noble, court executive; Kim Churchward, criminal services director; and Rex McFarren, child’s advocacy director.
Vogt and Commissioner Nelson Peters were both glad to see the project complete. But they said the next step is to routinely evaluate and update salaries so the county doesn’t need to go through another massive wage study again.
