By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
Several Whitewater municipal workers will begin the new year with adjusted wages, following a review of salary grades and where positions fall within different categories.
The Common Council on Dec. 17 voted in favor of a resolution that makes several tweaks to the existing salary grade structure.
One of the adjustments, for the city’s management analyst position, is increasing from $12 per hour to $16 per hour.
The water superintendent position, meanwhile, is moving to a different pay grade. The position had entailed a salary range of $57,956 to $68,493 annually. The adjustment means the range will now go from $61,406 to $72,572 annually.
Lastly, the position of lab manager will result in an hourly increase of $1.34 per hour.
“These adjustments were made after considering the workload for each position, as well as the current average rate of pay for similar positions in other Wisconsin municipalities,” City Manager Cameron Clapper said.
During the fall budget deliberations, Clapper suggested compensation for the management analyst position be increased. But the other two adjustments were not included in budget talks.
“The wage adjustments for the other two positions will be accommodated in their respective utilities budgets,” Clapper said.
The adjustments voted on by the council were incorporated into the city’s 2014 salary resolution, which outlines the wages all municipal employees are set to receive for the upcoming year.
All other provisions within the resolution had been previously approved by the council.
Clapper received a pay bump Jan. 1, from $90,000 annually, to $91,800 in 2014.
Whitewater Police Chief Lisa Otterbacher is also receiving a wage increase, from the annual wage of $87,870 reflected in her 2012 contract to $89,627 in the coming year.
The city’s professional and technical employees all fall within a pay grade ranging from A to L. Pay grade A – the low end – offers annual salaries from $31,993 to $37,255. On the upper end, pay grade L, employees receive salaries ranging from $68,308 to $80,730.
