Mayor To Earn $5,864 More Next Year
Cost-Of-Living Increase Set At 5.8 Percent
Last updated Tuesday, November 11, 2008 11:39 PM CST in News
By Richard Dean Prudenti
THE MORNING NEWS
BENTONVILLE - The more money a Bentonville employee or elected official makes, the greater the amount he will receive with a percentage-based, cost-of-living adjustment.
Councilman Ed Austin said Tuesday he hadn't thought much about how a proposed 5.8 percent cost-of-living raise would affect Mayor Bob McCaslin's salary.
The percentage, based on Social Security's cost-of-living index, will add $5,864 to the mayor's salary. McCaslin currently earns $101,110.
"I worked for a propane business for 17 years. The big shots kept getting more and more. That's the way it works," Austin said.
Austin noted he's always supported paying the mayor, whomever he or she is, a good salary. So he's OK with the increase.
City policy favors using Social Security as the basis for cost-of-living increases. The city used Social Security's October 2007 cost-of-living adjustment of 2.3 percent for the 2008 budget.
In prior years, the city used the U.S. Department of Labor's monthly consumer price index.
The 5.8 percent increase will cost the city $1.2 million for all employees and elected officials, which includes members of various boards and commissions.
"It costs about $200,000 per percent," said Denise Land, city finance director, on Monday. Land presented the proposed 2009 budget during a Committee of the Whole meeting.
Other elected officials make far less than the mayor, so the adjustment won't be as great. For example, city clerk makes $6,893; city attorney earns $16,333 and a city council member makes $5,317.
Councilman Jim Grider said Tuesday he doesn't think the city could legally select certain positions for increases.
"We wouldn't want to exclude the mayor from the percentage increase because that percentage should be applied to everybody," Grider said. "He is chief executive, and we agreed as a council he should be compensated. It's hard for me to qualify what he's worth. ... He's done a pretty good job managing the city right now."
The mayor said Monday he thought the adjustment was a bit high and excluded any merit raises as a "financially prudent" measure for the proposed 2009 budget.
"This is the most equitable way to treat the folks we have in front of us," McCaslin said.
The city will continue to evaluate employee performance, he said.
"We do evaluate employees with high standards. There is a consequence for low performance or no performance, and that can be addressed in a variety of ways according to personnel policy," McCaslin said.
Councilman Scott Comiskey said he would rather keep merit raises.
"I think the taxpayers want us to evaluate employees tied to economic incentive," Comiskey said.
Grider agreed. "Some people are motivated by financial rewards. Take that away and it will have some detrimental effect," he said.
But Grider said he feels better about eliminating merit raises if the city can't afford them because the cost-of-living adjustment is higher than previous years.
At A Glance
Bentonville Municipal Salaries
Cost-Of-Living Adjustments
2002 2.1 percent
2003 2.5 percent
2004 2.2 percent
2005 2.7 percent
2006 4.5 percent
2007 1.7 percent
2008 2.3 percent
2009 5.8 percent
Source: City of Bentonville
MEETING INFORMATION
Bentonville City Council
Officials are scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. today in the Community Development Building, 305 S.W. "A" St., to consider:
• The 2009 Community Development Block Grant Program designating $87,500 in donations to five Bentonville nonprofit organizations serving low- to moderate-income people: Havenwood Women's Shelter, Helen Walton Children's Enrichment Center, Boys and Girls Club of Benton County, Rebuilding Together of Northwest Arkansas and Habitat for Humanity of Benton County.
The program also earmarks $92,500 for water line, trail design and drainage improvement projects benefiting low- to moderate-income areas in Bentonville.
• Appointing Brad Crain to serve as Ward 2, Position 1 council member, replacing Rod Sanders, who recently resigned because of health problems. Crain was elected to the post Nov. 5.
• Selling 1.49 acres on the east side of Arkansas 72, between County Road 559 and Short Road, for $71,500 to the Benton Washington Regional Public Water Authority to build a water tank.
Reader Comments (14 comment(s))
The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsibility of their authors. The Morning News does not review comments before their publication, nor do we guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by our comment policy. If you see a comment that violates our policy, please notify the web editor.
recross1 wrote on Nov 12, 2008 8:45 AM:
they all should be ashamed of themselves!
you can bet his campaigne speaches promised more for the low class but that was then,now hes mayor promises are never kept. "
tulsa_cane_fan wrote on Nov 12, 2008 8:58 AM:
Lone Star wrote on Nov 12, 2008 9:05 AM:
BCR wrote on Nov 12, 2008 10:47 AM:
To all of the city employees getting a 5.8% raise... Enjoy. People are losing jobs left and right, losing homes, and their retirement nest egg. YOU"RE getting a raise that's 152% higher in percentage than you got last year. Have a Merry Christmas. "
Bvilleguy wrote on Nov 12, 2008 12:29 PM:
django wrote on Nov 12, 2008 2:35 PM:
ozarks wrote on Nov 12, 2008 2:51 PM:
maljoir wrote on Nov 12, 2008 7:48 PM:
ozarks wrote on Nov 12, 2008 9:28 PM:
maljoir wrote on Nov 13, 2008 12:44 AM:
ozarks wrote on Nov 13, 2008 5:47 AM:
hmmm... wrote on Nov 13, 2008 6:37 AM:
Not already registered?
native44 wrote on Nov 12, 2008 2:55 AM: