Union pushes for pay raises.
Raises for Santa Fe city employees are on the table — no, not those raises.
The union that represents more than 800 municipal employees wants the City Council to approve a $409,000 “equity pay” proposal it says will ensure all its workers receive a raise of at least $1 an hour by next summer.
The money for the sliding-scale pay increases sketched out by the Local 3999 chapter of AFSCME was included in the current city budget after collective bargaining negotiations last year, said Tom Diaz, an executive board member.
But no such money was budgeted for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1, temporary City Manager Erik Litzenberg said.
Diaz said the union’s intention was that the pay increases would be a “permanent adjustment.”
“But we’d probably rather have it one time than not at all,” he said, asking councilors to authorize the pay increase plan before the current fiscal year runs out.
Whether the council will take up the matter at either of its meetings in May is an open question, and there are confounding factors — including the still-simmering controversy over 10 percent and 15 percent raises that were approved for a select group of employees working on a technology overhaul. Mayor Alan Webber put those on ice late last week.
Councilor JoAnne Vigil Coppler mentioned the forth-
coming results of a compensation-and-classification study which found it will cost the city $2.1 million to classify workers in their appropriate positions with appropriate pay.
And the proposed budget for next year does include a separate across-the-board 2 percent pay increase for all city employees. That also was negotiated in last year’s collective bargaining talks.
According to a memo provided by the union, the $409,000 was budgeted for a “merit pay” program city management was meant to develop last fall. Management never presented any plan.
The union, in turn, stepped in to offer its own idea for pay increases.
“This proposal is fiscally prudent,” Diaz said. “It’s a way for government to take a big step toward fair compensation without having to raise or find money somewhere because the funds are already in the budget.”
Contact Tripp Stelnicki at 505-428-7626 or tstelnicki@ sfnewmexican.com.
Santa Fe fire Chief Erik Litzenberg has become temporary City Manager Erik Litzenberg.
City councilors and the mayor unanimously approved a 90-day agreement to install Litzenberg as the interim replacement for Brian Snyder, who was asked by the mayor to resign late last week as part of the fallout of the package of controversial raises.
Litzenberg will receive compensation “equivalent” to Snyder’s, according to a memo prepared by Mayor Alan Webber. Snyder, as city manager, earned $70.03 an hour.
Litzenberg earns $52.04 an hour as fire chief.
Litzenberg will play a key role in personnel matters in coming months as the city administration seeks to fill many positions that are either vacant or occupied by an acting or interim manager.
Almost 600 applications were filed as part of Webber’s talent review in which he opened all of the 60-plus exempt positions and asked current employees in those roles to reapply.
But Webber has said he will leave the process of filling those positions to the city manager, as is stipulated by the city charter.
Litzenberg will return to his role as fire chief after his tenure as temporary manager, Webber’s memo states.
The City Council also approved an expansion of the city’s contract with Geno Zamora, the interim city attorney. The agreement previously capped Zamora’s monthly services, at a rate of $165 an hour, at 50 hours; the limit will now rise to 80 hours, Zamora said.
The total compensation shall not exceed $40,000, according to the amended contract.
Zamora will serve as interim city attorney until Webber appoints a new full-time city attorney or June 15.