I think that maybe employee pay should be increased to be more competitive, but maybe not just yet with the current economic climate. I think more strain on companies with higher wages will takes its toll during difficult financial times.

James
- buy HGH and vacuum cleaners.

The reverse happens with merit pay, too. Imagine that companies (as today) and the industry are not giving raises. So is the city's new compensation systems going to cut salaries like the industry is projecting?

Remember it works both ways. The city might check and find out that many of it's employees are already overpaid.

BTW stop giving titles to people and calling them Director when they are doing menial tasks only to have the "faux" title to get the pay.

who thinks the goverment needs to spend MORE to save the economy and create jobs.

The city is redefining how merit pay works. First, merit pay is categorized by job classification. If your daily job falls under a classification (not job title, but actual job duties) the pay scale is broken down by 10-90% percentile. That does not mean everyone gets paid at the 90% percentile as is indicated by every whinner out there working for the city. No, it means that is the high end BUT IS NOT THE NORM... Key words people, NOT THE NORM.

Private companies aim for the 50% percentile (median). If you think all private companies give employees the same comparable pay as the City of Tacoma you are kidding yourselves. No. In fact private companies ask their employers to pay for health care, may or may not have a pension plan and might match 401K plans. AND REQUIRE IT's EMPLOYEES TO WORK over 40 hours WITHOUT OVERTIME!!!!

City employees have it good. They have a pension plan and good benefits.

The whinning has got to stop and every council member who voted for this merit plan should know how it works first and how it is being interpreted.

Good riddens to getting rid of longevity pay and cola. But be sure you know how merit pay works. Most companies also have a set pool of money per classification and go through a rigorous process to divide it's employees into catergories for pay each year (rank employees 1, 2, 3).

They DO NOT just say oh Joe needs a raise and give it to him. NO companies determine what the raise pool is (ex. 4%) and determine if Joe gets 1, 2, 3 or 4% raise.

BTW, if Joe's title is Manager of Communications and yet is doing light secretarial duties he does not deserve managerial pay as scored by any comparable study the city purchased to fit the needs of Joe Blow.

WHY NOT TAKE THE DIFFERENCE OF THE RAISE TO THE CITY WORKERS NOW WAGES AND GIVE IT TO US WHO REALLY NEED IT. THE ONES ON THE STREET. YES THEY'RE STILL OUT THERE EVEN THOUGH YOU CAN"T SEE THEM. FYI,, WE NEED A GROCERY STORE IN SOUTH TACOMA!!

This is "totally unbelievable" !
The streets are in dis-repair, which you want to place a 'seperate tax' on the citizens to fix them!
The economy is in the tank, people are being laid-off left & right each and every day.Some loosing their homes daily & and you the city council people have the nerve to dole out raises......????


Something is 'drastically wrong here', it's like rubbing salt into a open wound!!!!

If your poor in math, they sell calculators in many, if not most stores !!!!!!

...look at not just city and county employee pay rates, let's not forget our hard working state employees (sarcasm)! I agree with those who said if you have a job, be thankful. Right now is not the time for a raise (especially those who simply go to work, do nothing and get great benefits and pay as it is - at my expense). As for those who actually EARN their pay by DOING their jobs (all ten of you know who you are), a pay increase would be nice and I'd personally be glad to oblige you, but the economy is in horrid condition right now so please be patient while this mess is being sorted out. If you are a City, State or County worker, it's best you be grateful you even have a decent job with good benefits. Still not satisfied, try looking at someone who has it worse off than you and get over yourself!

Here is the problem. All of these so-called "under-paid city employees" are still working for the City. Why? Because the opportunities to find gainful employment with full retirement and benifits and more money are very hard to find. We dont need a salary survey to tell us if they are under-paid. The day that HR tells the city manager that they cant get qualified applicants is when they need to consider adjusting their compensation.

Why should Tacoma have to compete with others when it comes to wages, or anything? Tacoma is above competition. I just wish I could think of anywhere else that is as well.

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This might be of interest to some...
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Occupations and Wages in Washington State

Those that are city workers have the stability w/o the pay. They deserve to be compensated for the schooling, service and work they do. Why shouldn't they make a competitive salary? Its easy to point fingers and say all "the city" when there are many individualized functions they handle. And if they hire a bunch of idiots because they want to save money, then guess who really is running your city. There is integrity to those who work there no matter what anybody says.

NO raises more than the cost of living that other employees in the City get!

People who are over the wage rate that the City should be paying... NO RAISE!

I remember when they said they had to pay more to the Tacoma Public Utility director... yet from the chart I saw, we are high?

When does it stop???

They say we don't have money to fix streets, yet they can boost pay cause they are not competitive? If the employees don't like what they get paid, they can go find another job that does pay more. Unfortunately there are none out there are there?

Why can't the city use some of the money for raises to fix streets or make crosswalks ADA compliant? Oh yeah, I forgot, we can only use money from the specific tax monies coming in, not from the general fund.

Oh, BTW, how much is City Manager going to get for a raise so he is
paid the correct percent tile?

How does the City of Tacoma TOTAL COMPENSATION PAY compare with other cities?????

I hear we pay over $1,000 a month for medical for city employees. My employee total cost is only $600 a month and I pay $200 of it. Why can't the City of Tacoma get a better deal? Why doesn't all Cities adn Counties band together and get a medical plan that covers all employees and drive the cost down?

Or, is there some sales rep for the insurance companies getting a nice commission for getting the City to keep the insurance they have now????

WHEN DOES IT STOP?????

On second thought, cut the pay of anyone OVER the range the City wants to pay and make them 70% of the scale.

MONEY I don't think the city of Tacoma wants to save money look around downtown. City workers are lucky to have a JOB and should shut up... Donny

I see the seeds of hate, fear and loathing taking root here. The powerlessness we all feel as we watch the slow motion implosion of our financial, political and social institutions causes the obligatory lashing out at someone... just anyone that can act as a proxy for the real criminals.
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The wages that should be cut are in the board rooms, corner offices, and halls of elected government in D.C. and everyone capable of thought and critical thinking knows this to be the case.
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What we are experiencing is the very predictable (and it was predicted) harvest of reaping what is sown.
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Carter's doctrine of the U.S. right to do whatever it feels is necessary to secure oil for this country, Reagan's anti-union and anti-government policies, paying corporations to move their operation off-shore, Bush number 1 not having a clue about electronic scanners in supermarkets and stating that “No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God.”, Clinton's gutting of Welfare, march to the WTO and supporting NAFTA, Dick Cheney and GW giving Enron, Halliburton and their other energy cronies carte blanche, and let's not forget the worthless invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the unfunded mandates concerning education, the bankruptcy and medicare legislation rammed through congress by republicans, these decisions have brought us to this crisis.
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If you rail against the wages a clerk at city hall gets, you are following the script written in the towers of the elite that have given us the world we live in.

When our young enlisted persons in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world are working upwards of 100 weeks AND getting shot at AND away from their families AND making an average of 34,000 a year I see no need to have our average city worker's wages any higher than that.

City, state, federal workers are here to SERVE and not get rich. SERVICE is the issue and playing a game of compensatory wage increases is a disservice to the communities they serve.

Imagine if there were an Armed Forces Union -- what then? National Security only if negotiated wages and increases went into effect? Please.

AB

The rates for power and services in Tacoma are obscene. The request for payraises to the aristocracy of Tacoma at this time is obscene. Try posting a job vacancy, you'll have Phd s applying for any menial job.
If you can sell payraises at this time, you can sell the London Bridge or maybe the Bastile. To paraphrase the words of the Council members, "Let them eat cake." Time for change at the Council.

Simply, no... Look! The City of Tacoma, Pierce County, AND Washington State are pursuing budget cuts in other areas. Why then should the City of Tacoma re-allocate much needed dollars toward salary increases for city employees during a time of significant economic contraction?

Let's not forget who is paying for State, County AND City salaries and services: The REST OF US who are presently trimming costs and cutting back during these economically challenging times.

I know this going to make some people mad in what I am going to say. I work as a hourly employee for a local city. When we put a ad in the paper to hire someone we only get a few people who can do the type of work we are looking for. We have had a lot of people quit for other jobs. Most of the equipment we work on is junk as it's low bid.

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Then decide...
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Pierce County employees salary database
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Tacoma City employees salary database
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Up until recently, Louis Bloom's site was the only site that featured this information. Interesting that a single, ordinary guy was willing and able to do this long before the media.
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Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.
H. L. Mencken
US editor (1880 - 1956)

65 private sector voted no so far.And the question should be, Should they get a raise during a depression? Life is good for Government employees. They just suck the life out of the rest of us.

When so many are losing so much - SMILE & go to work, be grateful you have that AND benefits!

Since all employers (not just city & county & state organizations) are in such dire need right now, any worker should be satisfied with status quo for now.
You know, take one for the team...

Raise my kids allowance, send the wife to the Mall and give a bunch of what I have left to charity. Works for me.

Wow! This newspaper has come up with out of left field questions before, but this one leaves me somewhat speechless. We're losing jobs, we're losing homes, we're losing our minds and you porpose to give City workers a raise. No, wait! I see what you're up to. You want to bankrupt the City and then apply to Washington, D.C. for a bailout. Oh you shrewd devils!

WHERE IS ALL THIS MONEY COMING FROM IN A TIME OF ECONOMIC CRISIS AND THE TAX PAYERS OF OUR CITY IN NEED OF TAX RELEIF.OUR CITY LEADERS TELL US THAT WE CANNOT DO THE SIMPLEST THINGS ,SUCH AS, FIXING OUR POTHOLED CITY STREETS BUT WE CAN AFFORD TO GIVE UNWARANTED PAY RAISES TO PEOPLE THAT ARE ALREADY MAKING A GOOD WAGE. I JUST DONT GET IT___OR MAYBE I DO__WE ARE OVER TAXED__WE NEED A TAX CZAR.

There are 50 people who would gladly take any of these jobs on the unlikely occasion it was vacated...Full medical and retirement???..Give me a break...

TNT you posed the question WRONG I thought I was voting for NO pay raise.