CROTHERSVILLE
Ten Crothersville appointed officials and town employees will receive raises at the beginning of 2020.
The town council approved the salary ordinance during a meeting Tuesday night at the town hall.
Bumps in pay of 3% were given to the office manager/first deputy and second deputy at town hall, the sewer, water and street superintendents and the skilled utility employee.
Street Superintendent Mike Deaton also will be given $1 more per hour. He was given that role in the fall of 2018. The extra $1 per hour will help put him in line with pay of the other superintendents.
The council also said Water Superintendent Chris Mains’ raise is contingent upon passing the water operator license test. He said he already has the water distribution side of the license.
The town’s four full-time police officers also will receive $1 more per hour starting in January. That will make Police Chief Matt Browning’s hourly pay rate $22.25, followed by Assistant Police Chief Chris Cooper at $18.50 and officers Alan Jones and John Amis both at $17.50.
During a meeting in September, Councilwoman Brenda Holzworth suggested police officers be included in the 3% raises. When she realized making $1 per hour more would provide a greater salary increase, she amended her motion.
“We do have good police officers, and we want to keep them, but I understand that we would have done better to have given them $1 across the board raise rather than a 3% raise,” she said. “I want us to keep our policemen, so they need to get as much as we can give them.”
Town attorney Jeff Lorenzo said since the ordinance hadn’t been drafted at the time Holzworth proposed the amendment, the $1 increases could be reflected when he drafted the ordinance.
“Those are always difficult things to do because when you give a flat number like $1, it always benefits the people at the lower end of the spectrum, so your newest guys,” Lorenzo said. “The alternative is when you give 3%, the guy at the top keeps moving further and further.”
The approved raises were higher than the beginning of 2019 when most town employees received increases of 50 cents per hour.