The Richardson City Council has completed its annual budget workshop, with city employees expected to get a raise and taxpayers a rate hike.
The annual workshop was held July 24-25. Council members convened to discuss changes to the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The center of much discussion was how to account for pay raises for city employees.
A presentation by Richardson City Manager Don Magner detailed a possible “merit-based market adjustment” for police officers, fire personnel, and other employees of up to 5%. The change would affect 270 positions in the local police department and 175 positions in the fire department.
“The 5% Pay Plan adjustment puts the minimum hourly wage for full-time and permanent part-time positions at $18.71, or $0.47 above the Living Wage of $18.24,” reads the presentation.
The total needed to make the salary adjustments was estimated at $5,155,204. Some council members, however, showed that they favored a 6% increase, according to Community Impact.
The budget proposals include a 3% “across the board” commercial solid waste rate increase for monthly bills and a one-dollar increase to residential customers. Officials claim that the increased rates are needed to cover costs for temporary workers and composting, pay increases for solid waste staff, and decreased revenue from recycling.
Due to these increased rates, annual bill changes for customers are expected to increase by $29 for water, $14 for sewage, and $12 for solid waste.
“None of this is fun, but I think [city staff has] worked very hard to mitigate that cost,” said Bob Dubey, Richardson’s mayor, according to Community Impact. “Three percent is a pretty mild cost when you think about where it could be.”
The budget, however, is not yet finalized until filed with the city secretary by August 11. Magner is expected to deliver the finalized budget during the city council meeting on August 14.
Public hearings on the budget will be held in the weeks following.
