Council Passes Ordinance Amending Salary Ranges

Changes to the salary ranges for some of Manchester's bargaining unit employees were approved by the Monday night, a move that was questioned by some residents.

With the township operating within a tight budget, some like resident Hank Glen wondered why the council would consider changing pay scales — with one position increasing its maximum salary by 30 percent — when employees are taking a pay freeze.

"I don't think it's very reasonable, those pay increases," he said. "We've managed before without those hefty increases. Even if they were accepting more responsibility or whatever the case may be, we have employees that are presently accepting more responsibility than they were originally given."

Council President Craig Wallis said that just the ranges are being changed and that does not mean employees will immediately receive more money.

"Some of these things we're raising because we don't do it every year," he said. "We try to keep a cap on the higher amount so we can go two or three years without having to change these."

"It just means they can achieve that salary in some period of time. They're not achieving it right now," said Councilman Frederick Trutkoff. 

Wallis said that some increases, as well as the creation of a new position, are necessary because of the township's takeover of the eastern water and sewer service area from United Water on July 1.

Public Works director Stephen Stanziano said that township control of the utility should mean a savings of $100,000 in the first year. The Crestwood water and sewer companies were acquired by the township in February of 2010, so Stanziano said that he is confident residents will not notice any change in services.

The takeover meant changes in the pay scale for the township's Utility Operations Supervisor, which increased 30 percent under the amended ordinance from a maximum salary of $65,000 to $85,000. The new position of Technical Assistant for Utilities was added to the ordinance with a pay range of $35,000-$50,000. 

"Some of this is we brought in new people to do our water, so we had to match our ordinance to those positions," Wallis said. "Overall, we're going to save money."

Wallis said that not all of the salary ranges were changed because that could give the township administration too much latitude in deciding what employees are paid. 

"We don't want to set the cap at $100,000 when the guy is making $50,000," Wallis said. "We don't want to have that latitude to the administration ... to say, 'I feel like giving this guy a raise today, and I'm going to give another raise tomorrow,' so that's why we have that cap on it. When [the employee pay] gets to that top value, then we have to raise it some to accommodate the next year or two of raises."

Council Vice President Brendan Weiner said that the pay scales are kept lower to give the body more oversight.

"So now when salary ranges change over time, we'll see it on the council agenda as we have transparency in government," he said.

Other amendments include changing positions were changed from salary to hourly: Summer Supervisors who earned between $4,000-$10,000 will now make $10-$16 per hour, and the Lake Supervisor will earn $20-$28 per hour, rather than a salary of $4,000-$5,500.

The top pay for the Right to Know Coordinator/Safety Coordinator was increased 10 percent, from $68,000 to $75,000.