The Columbus City Council has given initial approval to a city budget for next year that brings public safety officers to the midpoint salary range and includes $9.1 million in capital projects.
The proposed budget of nearly $63.5 million for 2020 is about $2.5 million higher than this year’s $61 million budget.
City finance director Jamie Brinegar said the biggest change to this year’s budget involves personnel services. The city is taking its second step in implementing a salary study recommendation to increase the pay of public safety employees based on performance to the mid-point level while also increasing pay for civilian employees two-thirds of the way to the midpoint.
The city hired Total Reward Solutions of McCordsville in 2018 to evaluate the salaries of city employees and had recommended establishing a salary ordinance establishing minimum, midpoint and maximum pay levels, which was approved by the council in September.
The study recommended that Columbus increase the pay level for public safety workers to the midpoint over two years, while other city employees would advance to that level over three years.
Civilian employees will reach mid-point in the 2021 budget. Long-term employees who may already be close to the mid-point or over the mid-point are being budgeted for a 2% salary increase for the cost of living adjustment. Currently, the Consumer Price Index, which measures changes in the price level consumer goods and services, is at 1.8%. The index is generally used as a guide for the cost of living adjustment.
In response to rising health care claims, Brinegar said the city is also budgeting an additional $800,000 in insurance benefits funding in response to rising health care costs.
“The combination of these two increases leave the personal services portion of the budget to account for over 80% of the general fund budget increase over 2019, as well as nearly all of the increases in the overall city budget,” Brinegar said.
Next year’s city budget also includes $9.1 million in capital spending across city departments with $4.7 million of that dedicated for capital road improvements. The other $4.4 million will go toward public safety capital needs, public works equipment needs and parks and The Commons capital needs.
The budget also includes a $355,000 increase in funding for the central dispatch services, which Brinegar said should be a one-year increase as the dispatch office pays the last year of a long-term lease plus the cost of new equipment.
Brinegar said other significant increases include $8,000 in funds for insurance deductibles and a $50,000 increase in legal fees to assist in the city’s defense of a lawsuit against the city of Columbus’ human rights commission and its civil rights protections. The lawsuit is now entering its third year.
Using the state’s required formula for advertising the city’s budget, Brinegar said the proposed tax rate for 2020 is just over .17% higher than the advertised rate in 2019. The proposed tax rate for 2020 is 1.4293 per $100 assessed valuation.
The council voted unanimously to approve an ordinance tied to the budget and tax rates for 2020, with a final vote scheduled Oct. 15.
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Highlights
– Taking public safety officers to the mid-point in response to recruiting and retention needs
– Second-third of implementation of the salary study recommendation for all civilian employees
– $9.1 million in capital projects: $4.7 million for capital road improvements, $1.9 million for public safety capital needs, $1.4 million in public works equipment needs, $1.1 million in parks and Commons capital needs
– $800,000 increase in insurance benefits funding in response to rising health care costs
– $35.3 million of the total proposed budget is for human costs, including salaries and benefits
– $1.3 million of the total proposed budget is for debt service payments
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