Cedartown employees collect 2015 pay raise

Employees at the City of Cedartown are getting a lump sum pay raise just before the holidays again this year.

At its Nov. 2 work session, the City Commission unanimously approved a pay increase for full-time and part-time employees that will be paid out at the end of the year in one payment.

Last year fulltime employees with more than a year of service received a pay increase,

made in one payment, of 4 percent of their annual salary; this year the raise will be calculated at 4 and half percent, or, for example, based on a salary of $32,000 a year, a payment of $1,440.

The commission also approved a 2 percent bonus (the same as last year) for part-time employees and for employees with less than a year’s employment.

City manager Bill Fann said the raises apply to all employees, including the management team and department heads.

He said the commission chose to aggregate the year’s pay raise into one end-of-year payment for a couple of reasons.

“I have discussed this with many employees throughout the last year and the large majority have told me they prefer the lump sum option,” Fann said. “We also have a better idea at the end of the year how much we can afford to do and stay fiscally responsible.”

Fann said the raises were possible due not only to the efforts of management, but also because of the full participation of employees in the city’s financial recovery.

“Across the board employee pay raises were non-existent for many years,” he said. “We’re trying to give back to our folks and show how much we appreciate them.”

Fann – who presented a draft budget to city commissioners for 2016 during the work session – said that with the city’s finances on firm footing, the one-time payments made sense.

“It’s nice to be able to recognize our employees,” he said.

The decision to approve the payments came after Fann and chief financial officer Amy Orebaugh assured the commission that the final month of the 2015 city budget could handle the cost.

“With these kinds of things, you have to wait until the end of the year,” Fann said. “Gives us an idea of what we can afford to do and not step outside of our fiscal responsibilities.”

Correction

In the Oct. 28 and Nov. 4 editions of the Standard Journal, we reported information about Andrew Carter incorrectly. Carter was a student at Jacksonville State University, but did not graduate. We regret the error made of our own mistake, not one Carter made in reporting the information to the paper.