Mayor scraps merit raise plan, says nearly all city employees to get 2 percent raise

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Mayor Bill Sheckles.

Saturday, June 28, 2014, 1 p.m. — Bardstown Mayor Bill Sheckles has put the city council on notice of his plan to scrap his proposal for merit raises for the city’s employees. Instead, city employees will receive a 2 percent across-the-board pay increase.

In a copy of an email sent to council  members on Friday and provided to the Nelson County Gazette, Sheckles explained the one-half percent raise was so small it could insult employees whose performance deserved a merit increase. He also acknowledged the council’s earlier concerns regarding the fairness of merit raises.

The original plan was to raise the payroll budget 2 percent and give all employees a 1.5 percent raise. The remaining 1/2 percent would be available for merit raises. Sheckles said he decided to scrap the plan and give all employees a 2 percent pay increase after talking with department heads. The decision does not affect the city fire department.

“In most departments, the dollars available for merit increases was so small that granting them I feel would be an insult by telling them this is what we thought they deserved for doing a good job,” Sheckles wrote in the email. “The risk of causing moral(e) unrest in the departments was not worth the risk.”

Councilman John Royalty, left, compares notes with Councilman Joe Buckman during budget discussions at an earlier council meeting.

As an example, Sheckles noted that in the city’s public works department, the 1/2 percent left $2.01 available for merit pay increases among its 28 employees. If 10 of the 28 employees received equal merit raises, each would receive an extra 20 cents per hour, which he said was “not enough to really recognize their contributions, but enough to cause possible disgruntlements.”

The merit pay plan and its implementation was one of several concerns the council raised about the 2014-15 city budget that received final approval on Tuesday, June 24.

During budget discussions at earlier council meetings, Councilman Tommy Reed objected to the lack of an established criteria for awarding merit raises. Councilman John Royalty said he opposed merit raises entirely, and that he felt merit raises offered too many opportunities to play favorites.

In the email, Sheckles recommended the council’s finance committee meet to study city employee pay and how it compares to other places in order to determine if the city is offering proper compensation to its employees.

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