If the town manager's proposed budget is adopted, some of his fellow town employees, all 253 of them, may feel the pinch. Personnel costs for all funds in the Fiscal Year 2004 budget totals $17,391,691, which includes a 1.6 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for town employees making a base salary of $48,000 or less. There is no COLA for employees making more than $48,000, Town Manager Stephen Owen said.
This year marks the first time the COLA will be phased out while the town, on directives from the Town Council, moves toward a market rate adjustment, much like the Fairfax County model. Pay scales will be adjusted 2.56 percent based on the current market index as used by the county, not through a COLA increase. The adjustment now must be earned through performance. Police personnel will receive a 2.56 percent COLA and a 5 percent performance increase. In addition the pay for performance scale has been reduced from 0 to 7 percent to 0 to 6 percent because of the economy, Owen said. "There are people who will not be getting raises that they otherwise might," he said.
Owen opened his office last week and held five separate meetings to explain the economy-driven shift. "I think most people understand the economic realities — the reduction in BPOL and transient occupancy taxes and the empty office buildings — we are facing," the town manager said. "I want to be as open with them as possible. I don't want them to read about it first in the newspapers."
Other members of the town's management team agreed. William Ashton, the director of information services, said his team of four professional employees accepted the changes. "They understand the economic time we live in is not great," he said.
The town's human resource's manager, Linda Simmons, said she hasn't received too many comments about the proposed budget. "Given the economy, I think, for the most part, our employees seem to accept it and just seem glad to have a job," Simmons said.