Recent Winder raise was second this year for some employees

The raise approved Dec. 6 by the Winder City Council was the icing on the cake for several city employees who already had received major pay hikes earlier this fiscal year. The 3-percent raises that the Winder City Council approved for all 154 full-time city employees will most help the employees who already have the highest salaries. The annual salary increases are significant, especially for the 12 employees who in FY2013 will be paid more than $60,000 each.

Though raise proponents, including outgoing Mayor Chip Thompson, argued that city employees had not received raises in five years, that’s not the case for several workers.

The base pay for some managers, patrol officers and other employees have risen since the start of the fiscal year on July 1. So the 3-percent raise approved in December will be a second raise this year for them.

The salaries of the three managers of the public works and utility departments were all increased by thousands of dollars to $59,500 in the new budget.

Mike Jewell, the natural gas manager, who voiced a strong appeal to the city council and asked that the Dec. 6 vote be “unanimous,” already had received the biggest pay raise among city employees this year. His salary had increased earlier in the year by $7,182, from $51,688 to $59,500. With the additional December raise of $1,785, his total salary increase for the year amounts to $9,597 – rising from $51,688 to $61,285.

Making the same new salary also are public works director Ken Chalker, whose combined raises have raised his salary by $5,229, and water distribution manager Roger Wilhelm, whose salary has jumped by $5,292.

The three managers, in fact, are now among a dozen city employees whose salaries in the wake of the December raises now exceed $60,000.

WINDER’S HIGHEST PAID EMPLOYEES

• City administrator Don Toms will get a $2,850 annual adjustment, raising his salary to $97,852.

• Finance director Leslie Henderson, the second highest-paid employee, will get a $2,543 adjustment to $87,324.

•Police chief Dennis Dorsey: up $2,220 to a new salary of $76,226.

•Planning director Barry Edgar: up $2,210 to $75,883.

•City clerk Sabrina Wall: up $2,198 to $75,476.

•Staff accountant Jennifer Houston: up $2,042 to $70,142.

•Utility billing director Dawn Reidling: up $2,001 to $68,706.

•Fire Chief Matt Whiting: up $1,995 to $68,496.

•Fire Captain Jeff Carlyle: up $1,868 to $64,143.

•Water distribution department director Roger Wilhelm: up $1,785 to $61,285.

•Gas manager Mike Jewell: up $1,785 to $61,285.

•Public works director Ken Chalker: up $1,785 to $61,285.

For the full story, see the Dec. 21 issue of the Barrow Journal.