An update of the City of Ketchikan’s compensation plan has been completed. According to the city, implementation of the plan would cost just shy of $2 million more per year.
The Ketchikan City Council will discuss the compensation plan update during its regular meeting on Thursday.
City Manager Karl Amylon recommends that the council not take any formal action on implementing the updated plan until after a special meeting with the consultants. A meeting with consultants Ralph Andersen and Associates has not yet been scheduled.
That company did the original plan in 2006, and an earlier update in 2013.
According to the city, this year’s update shows most of the city’s jobs pay about 6 percent below market average.
A memo from City Finance Director Bob Newell states that the estimated $1.86 million annual cost to implement the updated compensation plan includes City of Ketchikan and Ketchikan Public Utilities salaries and benefits.
The city’s share would be about $911,000, and KPU’s would be about $955,000.
In December, the council agreed to include a property tax increase in the 2019 city budget to help pay for expected salary increases related to a compensation plan update. A formal vote on that .8-mill increase also is on Thursday’s agenda.
If approved, the mill rate within city limits would go from 6.6 to 7.4. That would bring an additional $690,000 revenue to the city.
Also Thursday, the council will vote in second reading on an ordinance to surplus the old Main Street fire hall and sell it in an outcry auction; and another ordinance to prohibit on-site marijuana consumption businesses within city limits. That second ordinance would not take effect unless city voters ratify it in the October local election.
Thursday’s Ketchikan City Council meeting starts at 7 p.m. in city council chambers at City Hall. Public comment will be heard at the start of the meeting.
