East Ridge considers inclusion of employee raises in new budget

photo East Ridge City Hall
Arkansas-Ole Miss Live Blog

The East Ridge City Council voted unanimously to consider including a 50-cent per hour raise for all city employees during a budget workshop Thursday for the city's preliminary 2015 budget.

East Ridge Mayor Brent Lambert clarified, however, that this was only a preliminary discussion of the budget and not a binding vote until they adopt the budget.

If the City Council adopts a budget with the 50-cent per hour raise for employees, which also includes a one-time bonus of $300 each for reserve police officers and volunteer firefighters, the added cost to the city would be about $189,000.

During discussion, Councilman Marc Gravitt clarified with other council members that although city employees had received bonuses in the past few years, they hadn't seen a raise in four years.

City Manager Andrew Hyatt also mentioned that he would like to discuss with the council setting up a performance-based system for increases in city employee compensation in the future.

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