One-time bonuses ranging from $500 to $1,000 have been suggested for full-time Little Rock employees next year.
City Manager Bruce Moore proposed the bonuses Tuesday at an agenda-setting meeting of the Board of Directors. The bonuses would be based on employees' salaries. The proposal was Moore's response to the board's mandate to find room for raises in the 2015 budget that was presented last week without pay increases -- the first time since 2010.
The budget projects $194.8 million in spending. Moore said he was able to find an extra $1,153,000 for the one-time bonuses because of increased revenue projections after the latest tax reports came in and by using some of the 2014 carryover contingency money.
Based on the latest revenue projections, the city estimates an additional $603,000 in property, state, county and city tax income than what was presented last week. That paired with $550,000 from the carryover contingency allocation will fund the bonuses.
Moore proposed that employees making $40,000 or less be given a $1,000 bonus. There are 649 employees who fall under that category. The 641 employees who make from $40,001 to $60,000 would receive a $750 bonus under Moore's proposal. The remaining 590 employees who make more than $60,000 would get a $500 bonus.
The city manager, assistant city manager, department heads and assistant department heads would be excluded from the bonuses.
Employees hired prior to Jan. 1 of this year are immediately eligible for the bonus. Those with less than a year of service will be eligible once they complete their six-month probationary period. For uniformed employees, the probationary period ends with completion of the recruit academy.
City directors praised Moore's effort to find funds for the bonuses, though some said they should not be across-the-board and should be based instead on performance.
"If someone is performing less than this person over here, it doesn't make sense and it's not fair that this person get the same as that person," Vice Mayor and Ward 6 City Director Doris Wright said. "Because what you are doing is creating mediocrity because I ain't got to do nothing; I'm going to get a raise anyway."
Ward 3 City Director Stacy Hurst agreed that the bonuses should be merit-based.
Moore, however, said that 1,320 of the 1,880 employees subject to the bonuses are under contract with unions and can't receive merit-based bonuses. He said it would be unfair for the remaining employees to be paid based on merit while the majority of the employees get the full bonus.
Moore told the board it wasn't easy for him to suggest using some of the contingency funding but that he feels comfortable doing so based on current projections. He also said the tiered bonuses have a bigger effect on the lower-paid employees.
Employees will have to pay taxes on the bonuses. Board members discussed the higher amount of taxes that would come out of a one-time large paycheck. Ward 4 City Director Brad Cazort suggested providing the bonuses in several smaller checks to avoid higher taxes on the amount.
The proposed budget, which will be voted on by the board at Tuesday's 6 p.m. meeting at City Hall, includes a 5 percent -- about $88,000 -- increase in funding to the county jail. The board is expected to approve a new contract at Tuesday's meeting to fund the jail.
Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola is opposed to the contract that increases Little Rock's funding of the jail, but he said the city has to sign it or the county will assess a booking fee per arrestee, which would end up costing more money.
The total payment to the county jail for 2015 is $1,854,576.
Some board members have voiced disapproval of the new agreement, but they were mostly silent Tuesday. At-large City Director Dean Kumpuris reiterated his previous comment that the city should simultaneously look for options to fight the new contract as it agrees to it next year. At last week's board meeting, he mentioned the option of a lawsuit.
The majority of the city's budgeted 2015 expenditures -- about $146 million -- cover personnel costs. The 2015 budget increases staffing to 2,124 positions compared with this year's 2,110 positions.
Funding increases are suggested for the First Tee program for youth, the land bank and weed lot programs and the sister cities program. The budget calls for a one-time, $150,000 payment to update the parks master plan.
There are also funding increases to agencies that provide services to the city. The Central Arkansas Transit Authority is budgeted to receive an additional $152,206. Several city directors said they would vote against that increase and objected to the fact that CATA is able to give its employees a 3 percent raise while Little Rock is not.
The North Little Rock City Council had similar concerns when passing its budget Monday. One alderman proposed not funding the CATA increase asked of North Little Rock, but the motion didn't pass. Cazort said he would make the same motion at Little Rock's board meeting next week.
There's also a suggested $150,000 increase to the Arkansas Arts Center. The city owns the center's building. Several directors objected to that increase.
Metro on 12/10/2014