Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis proposed Tuesday that the city adopt a plan to guarantee all city workers a base pay of $30,000 a year, or roughly $15 per hour. The finance committee agreed to make the wage hike a part of discussions when they hold the next budget workshop.
According to Davis, approximately 350 employees make less than $30,000 a year, with some making as low as $17,000 a year.
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“These are the people that fix our streets, clean our parks and some of them are dirty jobs,” Davis said.
Davis maintained that the low pay in those job areas causes a high turnover rate.
However, not everyone on the committee was receptive to a sweeping pay increase.
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Finance Committee Chairman Sammie Sias said he favored having the city create “career ladders” so workers have the incentive to try to move up to better positions in the government.
“If someone starts out digging ditches, you want them to move up, give them an incentive to move up,” Sias said. “But you should not be giving someone $50,000 to dig ditches.”
City Administrator Odie Donald noted such a move would create “salary compression,” meaning that if the city gives base-level workers a raise, then mid-level workers should be entitled to raises as well. Donald warned commissioners against enacting the raises in the middle of a budget year.
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“If you move the bottom up, you have to move the middle up as well,” Donald said.
District 3 Commissioner Catherine Smith McKnight said that she favored giving the raises because it would attract even more qualified workers.
“If they are paid more, then it would be an incentive for them to work harder,” McKnight said.
Scott Hudson is the Managing Editor of The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com.
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