GRAVETTE -- After two meetings last week, the Gravette City Council still has not finalized the city budget for 2014.
At a working session Tuesday night, council members reviewed the 2011-2013 budgets and the proposed 2014 budget. A few errors were noted, including a $90,285 amount listed for 2013 postage which was actually only $9,285, and a notation that the percentage of increase for 2014 salaries was not figured correctly. These errors were corrected and revised figures were presented at Thursday's regular meeting of the Committee of the Whole.
The city of Gravette pay-scale study was discussed, and proposed 2014 salaries for city employees were presented. Mayor Warren noted that employees must be compensated fairly or Gravette is in danger of losing them to neighboring towns. Good performers should receive good compensation, he said.
Councilman Bob Robinson agreed that the city needs to attract and retain the best people possible but noted that salaries are a big part of the budget and said he would like to see some increases made over two or three years so they wouldn't be such a big hit on the budget.
After some discussion, council members agreed to recommend that employees with proposed raises of 10 percent or less be given the raise at the beginning of 2014 and employees with raises of over 10 percent begin receiving the increased pay in June, 2014. A 2 percent cost of living increase was also recommended.
Council members agreed that written job descriptions for all city positions are needed and copies of these job descriptions should be on file at city hall.
"Not knowing job descriptions is confusing," Councilwoman Amy Rambadt said, "We need to know what each person's duties are before we can tell whether they are entitled to a raise."
Tracy Sewell reported that job descriptions were almost complete and should be ready by Friday of last week.
Other items in the 2014 budget were discussed. Since the miscellaneous line item is mainly for grant money Bob Robinson recommended adding $50,000 to the miscellaneous item to reflect grants the city hopes to get in 2014. Also suggested was putting a footnote at the bottom of the page to explain what the miscellaneous item involved. All agreed they hoped to pursue mainly 100 percent grants in 2014 rather than grants in which a matching amount was required from the city.
Another budget meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 19, at city hall.
General News on 12/18/2013