New pay structure for non-union City of Decorah employees has been approved

Non-union employees of the City of Decorah will be able to achieve merit pay raises in the future under a plan approved Monday night by the Decorah City Council.

The plan calls for three possible classifications of an employee's work: "Not meeting standards," "satisfactory," and "deserving a merit increase."  Employees who are declared as not meeting standards will not receive pay raises.  Employees who are declared as having satisfactory performance will get a standard pay raise.  Employees who meet at least 80 percent of their job standards will be declared as deserving of a merit pay increase. 

The new pay plan was approved Monday night on a 6-1 vote.  City council member Paul Wanless was the lone dissenter.  He said city employees in the merit pay category could wind up getting 5.8 percent pay raises.  "That's the part I'm concerned about," said Wanless, noting that the impact on the city budget would be even more pronounced if merit raises were given out several years in a row.