A slate of 3.5-percent pay raises for non-unionized borough employees approved last night will be the last across-the-board increase, Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna pledged last night.
He said he had instructed Borough Administrator Stanley Sickels to implement and complete performance evaluations for every borough employee by the end of this year. The goal, he says, is to identify those employees most deserving of raises starting next year.
“We have never had that, but we will,” Menna said at last night’s bimonthly council session. “Equity and fairness dictate that employees who are doing a good job deserve a decent raise. This is the last year that there are going to be blanket, uniform raises.”
The current year raises, which are retroactive to Jan. 1, are “a little bit less than” the increases negotiated by the borough’s two bargaining units representing the police and members of the Communications Workers of America, Menna said, without specifying how much the unions got.
Menna said he would also like to see an ordinance setting a minimum-to-maximum pay range for each borough job, but added that the complexity of such a law made it unlikely that one could be drafted and approved this year.
The salary ordinance was introduced last night and is to be up for a final vote on Sept. 22.
One group of employees who apparently won’t be getting raises are the members of the governing body. Councilman Mike Dupont introduced an amendment, which drew no objections from his colleagues, to maintain salaries for the mayor and council at 2007 levels.
A companion ordinance will restructure the police department to eliminate the now vacant position of of deputy chief while doubling the number of captains to four. Councilman Art Murphy, who is the liaison to the department, said the net fiscal effect would be to save $10,000 this year.
