McComb officials revisited a discussion about possible raises for city employees Tuesday but took no action, instead delaying the matter to do more research and bring it back up next week.
City Administrator Quordiniah Lockley originally brought up the possibility of giving all city employees a 3 percent cost-of-living raise at a Dec. 17 work session. A 3 percent raise through the end of the fiscal year would cost McComb $167,524.
Selectman Melvin Joe Johnson said then that employees deserved a 6 percent raise, and he pushed for the same measure at Tuesday’s board meeting. Six percent raises would cost about $335,048.
“The people that keep the city running are the employees,” he said. “With insurance and the cost of living going up, I think they need a raise in the amount of 6 percent.”
McComb employees have not received an across-the-board raise in five years.
While Lockley and Johnson believe the raises should be implemented as soon as possible, Mayor Whitney Rawlings would prefer to wait until the end of the fiscal year, when the percentage can comfortably be worked into the budget before it’s finalized and in place by Oct. 1, the start of the next fiscal year.
“There are no numbers that tell me, two months into the fiscal year, we have $300,000 that I didn’t have when I adopted this budget,” Rawlings said. “I think through the budget process, we should tell our city administrator that we want an employee raise that is built into the next budget, and oh by the way, we want to continue to fund our streets.”
Lockley and Rawlings have discussed whether or not McComb would be able to increase its revenues over the next nine months to be able to afford the raises annually without cutting funding in other departments. Rawlings remains skeptical until he sees proof in the numbers,
Lockley sees the potential in the crowds flocking to tournaments at the McComb Sports Park.
“My rationale — and understand I’m going to fight for the employees of the city — is based upon everything (recreation director Joseph Parker) has told us about bookings for the sports park and how the dollar flips over two, three, four times in the city,” Lockley said. “That would generate the revenues to support that raise. That was my position, and that still is my position.
“However, I know that is not the position of the mayor. He believes we should wait until the next budget.”
Rawlings said sales tax revenue is projected to increase from $5.4 million to $5.6 million this fiscal year.
Selectwoman Andranette Jordan, who once worked for the city, said she understands the need for cost-of-living raises and believes the financial security of the employees should be top priority for selectmen.
“We spend money on anything else we want, make all kinds of budget amendments,” she said. “These are the employees working hard every day. I feel like we can squeeze out an extra $168,000 until the end of this budget term because we make all kinds of amendments for all kinds of things.”
Selectman Michael Cameron moved to table the matter and discuss it further at next week’s work session.
