Valpo city council, Mayor agree to 2023 budget and employee raises - Chicago Tribune

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Valparaiso City employees will see pay increases next year after the Valparaiso City Council passed a salary increase ordinance and unanimously approved the city’s $43.2 million for 2023.

As explained by City Administrator Mike Jessen and Valparaiso Clerk-Treasurer Holly Taylor, the wage increase is the result of a salary research study conducted earlier this year intended to assure fair compensation.

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“We’ve already discussed the parameters we have introduced to come up with this formula following the wage study we did with our goal being to get everyone at least hallway to the mid-point of where they should be based on their position,” Jessen said.

“We are recommending a maximum of 4% for any increase for individuals, and for anyone who is already halfway beyond the mid-point range, we are suggesting a $1,000 overall increase, which is up from the original $500 initially recommended, in light of these inflationary times. This would be about 18 employees.”

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While not in disagreement about the overall increase, council member Robert Cotton poised concerns about the higher salary amount currently dedicated to the position for city community relations director compared the salary of the city’s director of human relations.

“The notion of the community relations director making more than the human relations director seems less than parallel,” Cotton said.

“And all the research I’ve down for what HR directors are paid around Indiana, it seems that should be the higher paid position given the nature of the responsibilities attached to the position. And the current salary for that HR director position of $73,000 a year is still well below even the low point of $79,000 as listed on our salary grid with mid-point listed as $93,000 and $115,000 for the high end. It concerns me since human resources is such a vital position.”

Jessen said by staying within the 4% guideline, it doesn’t allow for any substantial increases.

Cotton countered that Jessen’s response was “arbitrary” and cited “there are several other city employees with salaries which far exceed their mid-point” based on the salary grid report provided to the council.

One of the larger increases to the city overall approved 2023 city budget was for significant increases for the cost of employee health insurance, amounting to an additional $300,000 needed in 2023 to fund insurance increases.

Last year, the city approved “across the board” 4% raises for all Valparaiso municipal employees in the city 2022 budget which was $39 million. The previous year budget in 2021 did not include any wage increases, a result of added precautions because of the response to the COVID pandemic.

“We spent quite a few weeks very recently with the state board of accounts scrutinizing all of our departments and spending, the final outcome was a stellar report back to us of all of our budget operations,” Jessen said.

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Phil Potempa is a freelance reporter and columnist for the Post-Tribune.

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