City Raises Questioned

When Monroe Mayor Friday Ellis announced that city employees that belonged to the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Union could soon see increases in their wages, it got people talking. The city then engaged the services of the Gallagher Group to come up with a formula that would grant city employees wage increases that were comparable with employees in cities similar to the size of Monroe. Mayor Ellis followed up that announcement that upon approval by the city council, employees of the union would soon get those raises. The Monroe City Council approved the mayor’s request that went into effect on April 12, as employees would see the increase reflected in their April 29 checks. According to sources, some who work for the city are disappointed that the “increase” that they thought they would see was not there. City officials would explain that the former wages showed that employees “were underpaid” and that by implementing the Gallagher findings, Monroe could become competitive with other cities in keeping their employees in the area. According to city officials, the wage increases would be anywhere from 5%-37% dependent on how “far” below the Gallagher minimum an employee was, which dictates how large of an increase their wage increase would be. The message from city hall was that the wage increase and buying new vehicles and equipment were done to help improve employee morale. Sources tell the Monroe Dispatch that though Ellis may take credit for the employees’ wage increase, the Gallagher Study actually started back in 2015 under the Mayo Administration. Sources also told the Monroe Dispatch that under that time, the union and the city agreed to five 2% wage increases and that the city had met four of those increases. One could say that the Ellis Administration is finishing what was started before he came into office. Sources also tell the Monroe Dispatch that they welcome the increases but that there should be more such increases because they don’t make the same as the managers, as they are the ones who actually do the work when it is time. They claim to be the ones who get dirty and perform the services when a citizen calls city hall. They also wonder how their salaries/checks compare to those executives/city officials/managers who were not covered under the Gallagher study. Sources say that checks showed an increase in wages in the 5% range, where the dollar amount increased only a couple of dollars in the starting salary. One unsustainable source claimed that an employee saw a 75-cent increase in wages, indicating that person was at the high end of their pay grade. Another example, a source said, was only $1.25. There will always be competitiveness among the cities for talented individuals as those cities grow and expand. Monroe is the regional hub in this part of Louisiana, and if it wants to stay competitive, it must invest in its employees. Money is always a great incentive in keeping them.