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By Carol Arnett

The Florissant City Council held a first reading on a bill that would raise salaries for city employees at their meeting last week. Although there was no discussion on the bill at the meeting, the council had discussed it at the previous meeting, when Police Chief Tim Lowery, a member of the committee formed to study city pay, reported on the committee’s findings.

At that meeting, Lowery spoke about high turnover in the police department, attributing it to low salaries compared to other municipalities.

The committee recommended a 2% across the board pay increase for all full-time city employees.

The 2% raise for most employees, however, is not what is causing the bill to be discussed in electronic media and social media. In addition to the 2% increase, the committee also recommended more significant increases for eight positions, including the positions of four of the five committee members.

The committee compared salaries of current Florissant employees with those of others who hold the same position in other cities. At the last meeting, Councilman Ben Hernandez questioned that method of comparison, saying that employees in other cities may have larger staffs, larger budgets, or more tenure than Florissant employees.

Also at that meeting, Councilman Tim Lee questioned why only eight positions were chosen for immediate raises. He also suggested that using an independent firm to study the city pay structure may be more effective.

The proposed pay plan has resulted in several stories in local media and numerous comments on social media. The council will is scheduled to hold a second reading and vote on the bill at the July 14^th meeting.

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