By Barnett Wright
The Birmingham Times
Birmingham Mayor Randall L. Woodfin on Friday announced that he will recommend a 5 percent pay raise for city employees and another 5 percent in merit raises for the fiscal year which begins July 1.
The proposed 10 percent in pay raises would be coupled with a commitment for the city to also cover the cost of a 9 percent increase in health insurance benefits for employees.
The initial 5 percent pay raise will be presented to a city council Committee of the Whole on Monday and could be considered as soon as Tuesday by the full council.
Here’s what the mayor wrote:
Dear employees,
I want to thank each of you for your public service commitment to the people of our city. Your dedication and service is deeply appreciated by me and the public we serve. With the completion of an audit of our fiscal year, I am pleased to announce an identified surplus enables me to recommend a 5% raise for employees before the end of the current fiscal year on June 30, 2022. This is the right thing to do to honor your commitment to customer service and providing an efficient and effective government in support of our residents and businesses.
My administration will present this 5% raise to a joint meeting of the City Council’s Committee of the Whole and Budget and Finance Committees on Monday with the recommendation considered by the full council as soon as Tuesday. Upon passage by the council, this raise would be presented to the next scheduled Jefferson County Personnel Board for final approval.
In addition to this 5% raise, I will recommend to the council full funding of a 5% merit pay raise and longevity pay to be included in the budget for the new fiscal year starting July 1, 2022. The city has identified a 9% increase in health insurance costs. The proposed budget for the new fiscal year will cover the full increase of more than $4 million so that those costs will not be passed on to you the employee.
With these items combined, this would provide you up to a 10% raise in the coming year and guarantee you will not see an increase to your current healthcare costs.
As a city, we value each of you from public safety to general government services to our cultural venues. Please know we will remain committed to finding new ways to support your service, recruit and retain talent in departments and address your compensation and benefits.
Thank you.
Randall L. Woodfin
Mayor
