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Proposed budget includes higher wages for Seward city employees

The Seward Police Department, Seward Court and Seward City Hall on April 16, 2024.
Jamie Diep
/
KBBI
The Seward Police Department, Seward Court and Seward City Hall on April 16, 2024.

This time, an update to the pay scale will include an 8% increase to city wages and a 1.5% cost of living adjustment.

During the council meeting, several community members and city employees like Nancy Hulbert supported the wage increase.

“I think it's no secret that the price of everything has gone up in the last couple of years. And the city employees, you know, our wage scale is pretty, pretty rigid. It's codified by the city council. So we're only getting, like, a 1.5% cola if nobody does anything,” Hulbert said.

The city does a wage study every three years to determine how city employee wages compare to other municipalities. In an interview with KBBI, Seward City Manager Kat Sorensen said the city’s high cost of living and lower wages has made it harder to retain employees. She said the council is updating the scale to make wages more competitive with other municipalities.

“A lot of the times, we were coming in at 10th or 11th in relation to comparable communities across the state, and that's not where we wanted to be.” Sorensen said.

Paying employees already makes up a large part of next year’s proposed budget. The wage increase will cost the city an additional $757,685. Sorensen said this will be paid for with higher sales tax revenue projections.

The Seward City Council will meet again on Dec. 16.

Simon Lopez is a long time listener of KBBI Homer. He values Kachemak Bay’s beauty and its overall health. Simon is community oriented and enjoys being involved in building and maintaining an informed and proactive community.