Non-union employees won’t be getting a raise, at least not this month.
The Board of Aldermen’s Personnel Committee tabled a proposed 3.5 percent raise for the workers Tuesday, saying they needed more time to make sure everything is in place, including the money for the raises.
Before tabling the issue, elected officials heard from several people who urged them not to give the raises during a time when many taxpayers are either unemployed or have gone without raises for several years.
“Under the strained economic situation of the taxpayers and the city, allowing for another $10,000 expenditure in salaries is inappropriate,” said Republican Town Committee vice-chairman Patrick Henri.
Residents are already paying for generous employee benefits, he said, and can’t afford more.
“City raises should reflect what the average workers in Ansonia are receiving from their employers,” Henri said. ​“I doubt very much that the majority of Ansonians have seen pay increases of 3 percent or more this year, not to mention the high unemployment rate.
“This increase will only burden us again next year,” he said, ​“and will lead to more taxes or layoffs.”
The document below lists the raises the Aldermen were considering. Article continues after document.
Rather than increase salaries, the city should be looking to regionalize some of its services with other communities to cut costs, resident Mike Eigen told the board.
“There’s no reason why municipalities can’t combine their efforts rather than going their own way,” he said. The state also is encouraging such regionalization as a way to cut costs, he said.
“I don’t understand how you could consider giving a 3.5 percent raise to non-union employees,” Republican Town Committee chairman Joan Radin said.
Radin said she hears from people regularly who come into her business, Lear Pharmacy on Wakelee Avenue, about how the tax burden is becoming too much to bear.
“It’s nice to get a raise, but not when so many people are in so much trouble,” she said. ​“I really think this is not the time.”
Mayor James Della Volpe, attending his first Board of Aldermen meeting since undergoing heart surgery earlier this year, agreed.
“I think that is a great move on your part,” he told the board after board president Steve Blume said the issue would be tabled pending further review.
Several years ago the non-union employees requested the 3.5 percent raise — the same as their union counterparts were to receive — but times have changed since then, Della Volpe said.
“That was when times were good,” he said.