Virginia Beach may give appointees 1.5 percent salary raise

VIRGINIA BEACH
The fizzling economy could eat into pay raises for high-ranking city staff.
 
City Council members have discussed giving the five employees they appoint - the city manager, attorney, clerk, real-estate assessor and auditor - a 1.5 percent raise.
 
A final decision hasn't been made and isn't likely until next week or early September, Vice Mayor Louis Jones said.
 
Most city employees received a general 2.5 percent pay raise and a 1 percent merit increase this year when the council approved its budget. In recent years, the council has given appointees the same or larger raises than other public employees.
 
Last week, City Manager Jim Spore informed council members that the staff is trying to reduce department budgets by 1.25 percent to make up for a $7.5 million shortfall blamed primarily on rising fuel and energy costs. Council members also have expressed concern about how much the city will get in property taxes because of the declining housing market.
 
Private companies are laying off employees, holding raises flat or offering only meager increases, Councilman Bill DeSteph said.
 
"It's not that they're not appreciated," he said. "I think our city employees are fortunate. On the other side, there are people who aren't getting any raises."
 
Council members privately debated last week whether to give no appointee raises or to keep the increase in line with other employees. The 1.5 percent was a compromise, Councilwoman Rosemary Wilson said.
 
"It's probably not adequate, but we have a lot of constraints," she said. "You need to make sure your people are taken care of... I would have liked to have given them more."
 
The council appointees put in long hours, work hard and have helped steer the city in the right direction, Wilson said.
 
But the appointees are also some of the highest-paid employees, and a 1.5 percent raise for them may mean more money than a larger raise for a lower-level employee, Councilwoman Reba McClanan said.
 
Spore, the city's highest paid employee, makes $214,901 annually. City Attorney Les Lilley ranks second with a salary of $203,590. Real-estate assessor Jerry Banagan makes $118,039. City Clerk Ruth Hodges Fraser is paid $101,795 and Lyndon Remias, who joined the city in May as its auditor, is paid $98,400.
 
"I'm grateful for whatever I get," Fraser said. "They're the governing body and I serve them."
 
Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com
 
CORRECTION: Most Virginia Beach city employees received a general 2.5 percent pay raise. Due to a source error, The earlier version of the story included incorrect information.