News / Upcoming Events
Originally published on Monday, June 01, 2009 in the Local & State category of the Fayetteville Observer
Inside
Politics
Council rejects instant runoff voting
(An excerpt from the article)
City pay raises urged
City employees wanting a pay raise this year have at least one Fayetteville
City Council member on their side.
In a May 24 e-mail to the council, Val Applewhite said employees deserve
the projected 2 percent raises they would get under the city manager’s
budget recommendation. (Police officers would average 4.8 percent raises.)
“I am embarrassed by the fact that some of our employees have to eat
at soup kitchens,” Applewhite’s e-mail said. “I am embarrassed
that an employee was found sleeping in a building last fall because he couldn’t
afford to pay gas to get back and forth to work.”
She said comparing Fayetteville to other North Carolina cities that aren’t
giving raises is wrong because of BRAC. “We are poised to experience
an economic windfall that they no doubt will envy,” she said. “Why
not be the beacon of light in a storm? Why not invest in our employees?
How can we build a city on the backs of employees that are underpaid and
feel undervalued?”
Applewhite said the city would create a morale problem if pay raises aren’t
given.
Several council members are looking to cut City Manager Dale Iman’s
proposed budget, and some of them say pay raises should be trimmed or eliminated
this year given the recession. The council is scheduled to vote on a budget
June 8.
