About 3,325 city employees will be taking home a $1,500 bonus next week, just in time for Black Friday. Thatβs on top of an across-the-board raise of 2 percent set to go into effect two days before Christmas.
The decision by the Tucson City Council on Tuesday marks the third year in a row that the city has given its employees a bonus right before Thanksgiving. However, this year the Council bumped up the bonus from $1,000 to $1,500 for each employee.
Full-time, permanent employees, including police officers and firefighters, who have worked for the city for at least a year will get the $1,500 bonus, and part-time employees will receive a pro-rated amount based on how many hours they work.
The bonuses and the pay raises will cost the city roughly $6 million.
A majority of the raises for employees are being paid out of the cityβs general fund, which is heavily dependent on sales taxes for most of its revenue. Revenue projections for the city, which expects modest growth in the coming year, will help fund the raises.
City employees working in departments that donβt use general fund monies, like Tucson Water, will get their raises out of their departmental budget.
The mayor and members of the City Council will not get a bonus or a raise as their salaries are fixed at specific amounts as defined in the city charter.
Councilwoman Regina Romero pushed for more compensation for employees on Tuesday, asking her colleagues to bring the minimum wage for all city employees up to $15 an hour.
βI really am concerned about employees that are earning less,β Romero said.
Romero favors a slightly different approach to raises, focused on giving more substantial raises for various city employees that currently make under $31,200 a year rather than raising pay for those at the top tiers of the city salary range.
Councilman Paul Cunningham agreed to some extent, saying all full-time employees whoβve worked at the city for at least a year should make at least $13.45 an hour.
βWe really should strive for that goal, I think it is doable, and I donβt think the budget takes that big of a hit if we do that,β Cunningham said.
If you factor in the one-time bonus with the 2 percent raise, the cityβs lowest-paid employeesβ salaries could come close to Cunninghamβs objective β $13.43 an hour if some benefits, like paid holidays β are part of the calculation.
Councilman Steve Kozachik pushed back on making a decision about the pay raises on Tuesday, noting the decision to hand over a 2 percent raise for all employees isnβt the right solution for all departments.
Specifically, the Fire Department.
Salary compression β a chief complaint from the union representing firefighters β has led to younger firefighters, or at least those hired recently, making as much as those whoβve worked in the department for a decade or longer.
A union official told the Star earlier this year that because firefighters have not had raises in 10 years, a captain with 10 years of experience has a similar salary to a captain hired a year ago.
Kozachik said giving a 2 percent pay raise to all Fire Department employees only further complicates the already tense issue.
βYou donβt decompress from the bottom up,β Kozachik said on Tuesday.
Asked if the current budget can address the salary compression in the Fire Department, Kozachik said he didnβt know. βAnd that is why we should have waited,β he said.
City Manager Michael Ortega is expected to come back to the council in the next 45 days with a plan to address salary decompression in the department.
