Charleston officials are holding in reserve nearly $2 million left over from the current budget while they wait for an independent study to determine which city positions should receive salary increases.
Virginia-based Management Advisory Group International is leading that assessment, which includes looking at the city's non-uniformed positions and making recommendations with regard to pay scales amid current market conditions, City Manager David Molgaard said.
The decision to do that study was made in tandem with last year's 4-percent pay raise for all city employees.
"As we were trying to recruit for certain positions, we were starting to feel the market pressures," Molgaard said. "The trick is, you want to be a benchmark outside the labor market, but you have to have internal consistencies as well."
He "fully anticipates" the findings of that assessment will be shared before July 1, when the new budget goes into effect. The funds in that new page in the budget will then be allocated to different city departments, according to recommendations.
The city also is looking at a 6.3-percent revenue increase, nearly $4 million which comes from the increased city service fee and increased sales tax. The remaining 1.9 percent of that increase, or $1.7 million, will go toward the city's general fund.
Some of the funds in that revenue increase already have specified uses; funds from the service fee go toward road projects and police services, and funds from the sales tax fund police and fire pensions.
The proposed $94 million budget was discussed in a brief meeting Monday night before Finance Committee voted unanimously to approve the draft. Molgaard said the budget is "remarkable" because many expenditures that would normally increase annually remained largely unchanged.
Medical and life insurance expenses have remained the same for city employees at $11.1 million, and workers compensation costs have decreased by about $4,000, according to the drafted budget.
"We've managed our [healthcare] claims in a way that we're beating national trends," Molgaard said. "Typically, you would expect a 9 to 13-percent increase every year in healthcare."
The sales tax increase enacted July 1, 2015, from half a cent to 1 cent, helped save revenue that would have otherwise gone toward police and fire pensions, Finance Director Joe Estep said.
"That's really a game changer, because two years ago, we didn't have that inflow," he said.
The city saved another $400,000 in reduced fuel costs for its vehicles when it entered a new contract, piggybacking off the Kanawha Valley Regional Transportation Authority.
It's also anticipating a 2.5-percent increase, or $1.1 million, in business and occupation taxes.
The budget now goes before City Council for a vote at 6 p.m. March 22.
Reach Elaina Sauber at elaina.sauber@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-3051 or follow @ElainaSauber on Twitter.