The Muncie mayor’s office is asking the Muncie city council to formally approve and appropriate raises it began giving to city staff in May. IPR’s Stephanie Wiechmann reports on why some city council members say that’s a problem.
Audio Transcript
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Stephanie Wiechmann
Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour had to miss Monday night's council meeting for a family health emergency. But City Comptroller Craig Wright says Ridenour’s office used a line in the Indiana Code to begin giving all full time city workers, except for elected officials, a 10% raise.
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Craig Wright
The mayor brought it to us and said, hey, let's go ahead and do this and make it May 1st. And as far as getting the salary ordinance together, it was too late for as far as getting it introduced for May, so that's why it's in June.
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Stephanie Wiechmann
Ridenour did that without first asking the city Council to change a yearly ordinance setting maximum salaries. Council member Nora Powell says that goes against city law, even though she supports the raise.
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Nora Powell
My objection to what happened in regards to the raise has nothing to do with the fact that you haven't earned the raise. It's that the city is not complying with city ordinance, and they're spending money that they haven't been approved to spend.
00;00;52;18 - 00;01;14;18
Stephanie Wiechmann
The issue is complicated by an outstanding contract negotiation with a local chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The raise mirrors what police officers and firefighters received during contract negotiations last year. But AFSCME local president Nate Burgess told council members the 10% raise proposal also came with what he called other consequences that the union did not approve.
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Stephanie Wiechmann
On the advice of their lawyer, city council members voted to introduce the salary ordinance ahead of a scheduled AFSCME negotiation meeting later this month so updates can be discussed at the council's July meeting in Muncie. Stephanie Wiechmann, IPR news.
Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour had to miss Monday night’s council meeting for a family health emergency. But City Controller Craig Wright says Ridenour’s office used a law in the Indiana Code to begin giving all full-time city workers – except for elected officials – a 10 percent raise.
“The mayor brought it to us and said, ‘Hey, let’s go ahead and do this, and make it May 1.’ And as far as getting a salary ordinance together, it was too late for as far as getting it introduced for May, so that’s why it’s in June.”
Ridenour did that without first asking the city council to change a yearly ordinance setting maximum salaries. Council member Nora Powell says that goes against city law, even though she supports the raise.
“My objection to what happened in regards to the raise has nothing to do with the fact that you haven’t earned the raise. It’s that the city is not complying with city ordinance and they’re spending money that they haven’t been approved to spend.”
The issue is complicated by an outstanding contract negotiation with the local chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
The raise mirrors what police officers and firefighters received during contract negotiations last year. But AFSCME local president Nate Burgess told council members the 10 percent raise proposal also came with what he called other “consequences” that the union did not approve.
On advice of their lawyer, city council members voted to introduce the salary ordinance ahead of a scheduled AFSCME negotiation meeting later this month, so updates can be discussed at the council’s July meeting.
Stephanie Wiechmann is our Managing Editor and “All Things Considered” Host. Contact her at slwiechmann@bsu.edu.
