Pay-scale fix is part of new Warner Robins budget

The Warner Robins City Council narrowly approved a budget Thursday that earmarks $1.6 million to address a salary-scale issue without raising taxes, but a tax hike could still be on the table.

In a called meeting, council members, by a 3-2 vote, approved the budget as presented by Mayor Randy Toms. Councilman Chuck Shaheen, who called in to say he had gotten held up at work, was not at the meeting.

The council had previously been split 3-3 on whether to approve the budget as is, without a tax increase, or to raise taxes 1 mill to fund the pay-scale fix.

The budget approved pays for the pay-scale measure by taking the money from the city’s reserve fund. However, the cost will be ongoing each year, so some council members supported raising taxes now to take care of the funding long term.

Before the meeting it seemed as if the vote was going to be 3-3, with Toms to break tie, and he said during the meeting he supported the budget as presented, without the tax hike.

The absence of Shaheen, who opposed raising taxes at a previous meeting, made it seem as if the budget could get approved with a tax increase, but there was a twist.

Councilwoman Carolyn Robbins, who had expressed support for the tax increase, changed her mind and voted for the budget without it. That left her, Councilman Mike Davis and Councilman Keith Lauritsen voting in favor of it. Councilman Tim Thomas and Councilman Clifford Holmes, who supported the tax hike, voted no.

Robbins initially didn’t raise her hand when the call was made for those in favor, but after the “no” vote was taken, she said she was voting in favor of it.

Robbins said after the meeting that she changed her mind because the city will not officially set the millage rate until later this year anyway, and she will be voting for a tax hike at that time.

The budget approval means the funding is there to fix the pay-scale issue beginning with the start of the fiscal year on July 1, so many employees will see a significant increase with the first check of the fiscal year.

The change addresses an issue identified in a pay-scale study that concluded employee morale and retention were severely affected by what has been referred to as salary compression.

Police Chief Brett Evans, who was as the meeting, said afterward that approval of the pay-scale fix is important for officers.

“I think that it shows that this mayor and council does care about the employees, and that’s a message that needs to be sent,” he said.

This story was originally published June 29, 2017 at 6:01 PM with the headline "Pay-scale fix is part of new Warner Robins budget."