City council will be asked to approve pay raises for city department heads

The Decorah City council next month will debate a resolution increasing the salaries of city department heads.  And there will be a debate--decorahnews.com has learned that city council members are divided about the proposal.

At issue is a proposal from a subcommittee of the city's Personnel Committee.  Part of the proposal calls for establishing a consistent formula to determine cost of living salary adjustments, using an average of four different measurements of the cost of living.  That part of the proposal seems to have broad agreement among city council members.

But the second part of the proposal does not.  The controversy revolves around a proposal to establish a new pay scale for city department heads.  The new pay scale would combine with the cost of living pay raise to make a larger increase.

Personnel Committee chair Rachel Vagts says the overall impact would be around 3 percent.  But City council member Paul Wanless says the new pay scale would be phased in, with city department heads qualifying for the new pay scale on the anniversary of the date when they were hired.  Wanless says the overall pay raises average five to six percent.  "That's unrealistic," he said, waving his hands towards businesses on Water Street and saying the city council should keep in mind the struggles local businesses are having.

Vagts points to a study done four years ago of supervisory salaries paid by Iowa cities similar in size to Decorah—a study that found many of Decorah's salaries were lower than the statewide averages, some of them significantly lower.  "We need to be fair with our wages," she says.

It is likely the issue will be discussed at the city council's April 4th meeting.