Raises OK’d by LR board

Pay increases set to rise 1% to 3%

Little Rock city employees will get raises varying from 1 percent to 3 percent of their base pay next year, depending on their jobs, according to the city’s 2018 budget approved Tuesday night by the Board of Directors.

Employees of the Police and Fire departments will get 3 percent raises, as negotiated by their respective unions.

Other workers — such as street, fleet, zoo and parks crews covered under the local American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union — and nonunion eligible employees such as managers will receive 1 percent raises in the new year.

Employees in the police, fire and municipal employee unions will also get any increase associated with their places in their respective step-and-grade pay scales.

Under a step-and-grade pay scale, employees are assigned a certain grade category that has a starting minimum salary associated with it. Each year on the employee’s hiring anniversary, he moves up one step on the scale, receiving a pay increase of a set percentage, until he reaches the maximum pay assigned for his grade.

The municipal employees union just negotiated a new step-and-grade pay scale earlier this year. Each step on that scale is a 1.8

percent raise so, combined with the overall raise, those workers will receive a total 2.8 percent raise next year. The step increase won’t take place until their hiring anniversaries.

Officials didn’t provide information Tuesday about how big of an increase a step on the police and fire pay scales represents.

Some employees in those departments might have already maxed out their increases on the step system.

Payroll makes up 76 percent of Little Rock’s $208,963,275 budget for 2018, accounting for almost $159 million of the total.

That’s a $6.4 million increase over this year, mostly because of raises and benefits for the police and fire agencies, which are the city’s largest departments.

The money includes new incentives for police recruits, such as a $5,000 signing bonus and a $5,000 home-buying incentive.

Little Rock will add 21 positions next year for a total of 2,175 positions citywide. While the personnel cost is the amount the city would spend if it were fully staffed,

the budget assumes about $6.5 million in savings from keeping certain positions vacant, meaning the actual cost won’t be so great.

Little Rock budgets vacancy savings each year to keep a balanced budget.

For example, the city budgeted a little more than $152 million in personnel costs to cover its 2,154 positions last year, but only spent $146.7 million.

For the second year in a row, Little Rock’s budgeted expenses will exceed the projected yearly revenue. Expenses are expected to hit almost $209 million, while 2018 revenue after transfers is projected to come in at a little more than $208 million.

To make up for the $780,000 shortfall, City Manager Bruce Moore said he found one-time funds, not from the city’s reserve accounts, to balance the budget.

The 2018 budget is a 1 percent increase over the 2017 amended budget, representing almost $2.3 million in additional costs next year.