PANAMA CITY BEACH — The City Council Thursday will vote on a budget amendment to implement the first phase of a two-year plan to increase the salaries of most city employees.
The salary increases, which will cost the city $336,459 this fiscal year, were approved on first reading last month after the council endorsed a plan by consulting firm Evergreen Solutions. The firm evaluated the job functions of the city’s 251 employees and compared their salaries to their public sector peers in other similar municipalities.
The plan calls for increasing the pay of 161 employees. The other 90 employees would not receive raises. The raises, including benefits, would average $1,340 this year, although the amounts would vary between jobs.
City employees got a 2 percent pay increase in October.
City Manager Mario Gisbert told the council at the meeting last month that the consultant’s study looked at employees with similar municipal jobs in cities such as Jacksonville, Pensacola, Destin and Key West, plus Bay County. He said these are the types of entities Panama City Beach “would lose our people to.”
The pay increases would kick in Feb. 12. Some employees who were promoted prior to that date also will be receiving a retroactive pay increase, Gisbert said.
Gisbert said there are too many variables to say how much the salary increases will cost the city next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
The salary increases “will cost more next year, but I don’t know how much more,” he said. “This was done on advice of a consulting firm in conjunction with a lot of work and effort from department heads.”
Gisbert said the goal is to retain good employees.
“The key to this is to bring people up to the salary structure of their peers,” Gisbert said. “This is a step. We’ll go through an internal process next year as opposed to hiring a consultant. They gave us the tools where can do the next level of raises internally.”
The vote last month to approve of the raises was 3-2, with Council members Rick Russell and Josie Strange dissenting.
Russell said Monday he supports the raises but initially voted against the plan because it leaves out 90 employees. He said he will vote for the salary-raise plan and explain his concerns.
“I thought (the raises) should be across-the-board for everyone,” he said. “I had been fighting for that.”
Mayor Gayle Oberst said the city is trying to retain good employees, who may eventually take jobs in places like Panama City if the city doesn’t offer competitive salaries.
In other action at its 6 p.m. meeting at 110 S. Arnold Road, the council is scheduled to:
- Discuss a proposed ordinance that would ban construction of private walkovers behind homes along Beach Boulevard.
- Discuss a scooter rental ordinance that combines three other ordinances the council has passed. The city and county have been sued by California Cycles over the ordinances and the case is pending. Among its many requirements for scooter rental businesses are that they carry insurance and require riders to wear vests on city streets and have driver’s licenses. The ordinance also outlines maximum deposits that can be charged, which are $150 for a moped, $300 for an electric car or dune buggy, $500 for motorcycles and other businesses. The ordinance states no person renting a scooter shall charge for damages to the vehicle without first delivering to the customer a written, itemized statement of the charges. Scooter rental businesses also would be prohibited from threatening a customer with arrest or criminal prosecution for refusing to pay a damage claim.