Some Valparaiso city employees will get bigger pay raises than originally proposed. The 2023 salary ordinance passed by the city council Monday includes a minimum raise of one-thousand dollars, double the initial proposal.
City Administrator Mike Jessen said that minimum would go to the 18 employees who are already at the midpoint recommended by a recent wage study. "In light of the inflationary times and so forth that we're in, we thought it would be most appropriate, knowing that the $500 additional is not a significant amount of money and we can certainly handle it within the budget," Jessen told council members.
Most employees would qualify for bigger raises, up to a maximum of four percent.
But that still isn't enough to bring some employees to the midpoint. In fact, council member Robert Cotton noted that the human resources director wouldn't even be brought to the study's lowpoint.