Peachtree City Councilwoman Kim Learnard in an Oct. 5 letter to City Manager Jim Pennington asked that a number of items relating to the recent city employee pay increases be clarified by adding the question session to the agenda of the following City Council session. That didn’t happen.
Instead, Pennington at the Oct. 16 council meeting said that information was being compiled and will be presented at the next council meeting on Nov. 6.
Learnard and Councilman Eric Imker were the two votes against passing the new pay schedule in September. Both asked for more time to consider the impact of the decision. Mayor Vanessa Fleisch and council members Mike King and Terry Ernst overrode the pairs’s pleas for more time to study the issue.
Learnard in the Oct. 5 letter to Pennington and the City Council said she wanted to discuss some of the information that has “not yet been presented.” She asked that the information be made available as soon as possible.
“Since the taxpayers will be footing the bill, this must be made public in the form of a ‘discussion’ agenda item,” Learnard said.
Learnard wanted the total cost of the recently-approved employee pay increase and questioned where the funds would come from to meet that obligation.
A second question pertained to a facet of the employee classification and compensation study performed by Condrey and Associates and adopted by the council on Oct. 2.
“We were told Oct. 2 by (Human Resources Director) Ellece Brown that the Condrey study is wrong. We specifically discussed the fact that page 9 states, ‘the cost figures do not include benefit costs.’ Ellece told us that is incorrect; that the cost figures do include benefit costs. Which is correct?” Learnard asked.
Another question dealt with the 2 percent inverted pay increase for city employees that was included in the FY 2015 budget and how it might be impacted by the pay increases in the subsequent Condrey study adoption.
“We already passed a 2 percent inverted pay raise in which the lowest paid employees receive more than a 5 percent pay increase. Was that implemented? Is it now repealed? What is the status?” Learnard asked.
Learnard also asked for a list of a full-time employees’ pay for FY 2014 before and after the raise.
Noting her concern about the long-term impact to the city’s retirement fund, Learnard asked what the impact will be in three years, for example, when eligible employees retire “with their top three years’ salaries elevated much higher for retirement pay calculations.”
Questioning the Condrey study that compared Peachtree City to 20 metro Atlanta jurisdictions, Learnard asked how the study accounted for the six cities that had employees contributing a percentage of their salaries to their city’s retirement fund. Learnard said she asked for, but never received, that information.
Learnard in another question asked to see the city’s new five-year budget projection with the increased pay and benefits included. Additionally, she asked for an example of how the city can implement the new plan without a tax increase and without using reserve funds.
The final request also dealt with reserves.
“If we show another five-year budget example using reserves, please include the reserves balance as a percentage, whether or not this will impact our AAA bond rating and what the potential cost is of new money in the future if our bond rating is downgraded,” Learnard said.
