Fire and EMS staffing, compensation plan adjustments included
By Kellen Olshefski
Correspondent
The City of Elkhorn Finance and Judicial Committee took a look at an updated memorandum from City Administrator Sam Tapson regarding the 2018 preliminary budget Monday night.
Tapson said with some new information to consider, the preliminary budget has been modified slightly.
Tapson said with the tax levy, if the council were to move forward to capture any new construction, the levy rate will likely drop.
Tapson noted with taking advantage of levy capacity in 2018, the compounded amount over time would result in more than an additional $1 million for the city.
“I think if we can get more tax money without raising people’s taxes, we’re foolish not to,” Mayor Howie Reynolds said.
When it comes to fire and EMS staffing, Tapson said while at a conference recently, he was struck by a presentation from the City of South Milwaukee, which is facing a similar, yet different problem in that it has a full-time department, but can’t afford it. Tapson said the city is going to referendum this November, asking residents to allow them to exceed the levy limit to continue moving forward with the program.
Tapson said based on what he learned, before the City of Elkhorn should consider a referendum for its own fire and EMS staffing needs, city leaders first need to determine what exactly they are trying to accomplish.
“There’s a huge difference between maintaining what we have and growing what we have,” Tapson said. “And if the mission for instance is to basically sustain the level of service today, that’s one question on the referendum. If it is to eliminate, or walk back from a contract, and really go to a more full-time (program) or expand in anyway, that’s a whole different question.
“I know that question doesn’t maybe come up until November 2018, but I think you have to start from that question. What are we doing, and why are we doing it.”
Tapson said there are several things to consider, such as the idea that if the city opts to grow the complement of staff, there will be a series of impacts downstream, such as the current facility no longer being adequate for the size of the department.
“At this point, we’re almost there now,” Fire Chief Rod Smith said.
Tapson suggested the committee work with Smith throughout the remainder of this year and next year to identify how it would like to move forward, at which time, the city could then put together the facts and information cohesively to present to the community.
“You can’t do that without some, I think, well-rounded information,” Tapson said. “I’m not sure that we’ve given adequate and ample conversation to that yet.”
As for the city’s compensation plan, a structural adjustment is also included. According to Tapson, this means the city would adjust pay ranges for positions throughout the city. He said while this doesn’t equate to a direct raise for any employee, it does mean if an individual falls below the pay range for their position, their wages would be adjusted to meet the lower end of the pay range.
Tapson said he had contacted an accounting firm he worked with previously and learned the way the City of Elkhorn built its plan will likely allow it to look at structural movements and adjustments in previous years rather than having to pay for studies or surveys. He said as the city already exceeds the norm, reaching the 55th percentile, to only change the structure, the city would likely remain within the goals and adjectives of the plan: to remain competitive and offer fair pay.
Tapson said that as such, he would be inclined to direct funds that would have been used on a study or survey on pay ranges to city employees instead.
“I would rather pay our people than a consultant,” Tapson said. “I just think that if we’re going to spend the dollars, and we think we can do it in house and be effective, why would you not translate those to real wages for our own people.”
Tapson said based on rough estimates, the money saved by not going to a consultant would likely cover a large portion of the money needed to adjust wages.
Overall, the committee was in favor of supporting Tapson’s preliminary budget plan at this time.
The committee also discussed capital purchases and requests from the City of Elkhorn Police Department and Department of Public Works on Monday. For more on these discussions, see next week’s issue of the Elkhorn Independent.
