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REGULAR MEETING <br />OCTOBER 24, 2016 <br />with a two percent (2 %) raise themselves. He asked why does it have to be these big raises in <br />order for us to recruit and retain, and why could the Police and Teamsters do it. <br />Mr. Murphy stated he can only say the purpose of the ordinance is for internal and external <br />equity. If a non - bargaining position is kind of out of whack internally with a similar position that <br />would be an issue or if it is much different than maybe what a similar position receives in our <br />peer cities like Fort Wayne that is another issue. The bargaining and non - bargaining are a little <br />bit different, non - bargaining employees have the extra PERF that the Teamsters have and other <br />perks like that. The purpose of this is similar for retention and attraction of good talent. <br />Councilmember Davis asked didn't the unions also look at other peer cities to make sure they <br />were competitive. He also asked why does the Administration think they have to have double <br />digit increases in order to be competitive when our unions thought they didn't have to do that. <br />Mr. Murphy stated there were certain positions on the lower end as well that we felt were <br />different than what they should be. The majority of the positions are receiving the two percent <br />(2 %) increase. The total cost increase of the non - bargaining salary ordinance is estimated to be <br />about two point four percent (2.4 %). That is similar to the cost of the bargaining agreements <br />which again are a little different because they have some longevity bonuses and difference in <br />PERF payments. The cost is about two point four percent (2.4 %) total for the non - bargaining <br />employees. <br />Councilmember Davis stated we raised the Chief of Staff salary and that position has left. He <br />stated he could name several positions that we raised and it did not retain people. There is a role <br />for public service and this concept . of competing against those in business is a misnomer because <br />there is a certain level of understanding that people have when they came to public service. He <br />asked why people still left when we raised salaries. <br />Mr. Murphy stated we have a lot of great public servants in both the bargaining and non - <br />bargaining groups. He stated he believes he is a pretty good public servant and has been here <br />almost ten (10) years. He stated we have great public servants here at all levels of the City. <br />Councilmember Jo M. Broden asked about the memorandum related to TIF being able to pay <br />salaries. There are several salaries that are being tagged at one hundred percent (100 %) funded <br />by TIF, she asked how can we fund those fully through TIF. <br />Mr. Murphy invited Michael Schmidt to come up and address those concerns because he was the <br />person who put together the memorandum. <br />Mr. Schmidt stated they would have to work exclusively on those types of projects. There are a <br />number of redevelopment projects that would be able to keep them fully occupied. <br />Councilmember Broden asked if there is precedence for this from other cities in Indiana or are <br />we the first. <br />Mr. Schmidt responded that he can't be completely responsive to what other municipalities are <br />doing within the state. He stated his guess based upon the treatises that he has reviewed is that <br />the City of South Bend is not the only one (1) pursuing this avenue. There is a fair amount of <br />research out there from reputable law firms in the State providing advice and counsel to other <br />municipalities. In order to use TIF funds, the position would have to be absolutely specific to TIF <br />proj ects. <br />Councilmember Broden asked if the time study would align with these allocations. <br />Mr. Murphy responded there are plenty of TIF projects that these professionals would be <br />directed to work on. The TIF budget is around $50 million and is a very significant capital driven <br />budget. They certainly have enough projects. <br />Councilmember Broden asked who is the final authority of whether this type of funding is <br />appropriate. She asked if this goes down state as part of our budget. <br />Mr. Schmidt stated that if challenged we would provide the State Board of Accounts with what <br />we believe to be very comfortably the legal authority to do this. We do not have any reservations <br />putting this forward to the Board if they ask. It is also not unprecedented. <br />12 <br />