FOUNTAIN VALLEY : City Workers to Get Raises from Windfall

City employees will receive pay raises as a result of a program to share the wealth if the city prospered this year.

City Manager Ray Kromer said the city realized savings of about $500,000 for the fiscal year ending in June. Under the program, employees will receive a percentage of the savings, amounting to about $100,000.

Kromer said the remainder of the money will go into the city’s reserves.

Savings resulted from not filling 15 job vacancies in which the employees absorbed the workload, no rate increases for outside contracts and higher sales tax revenue than anticipated, Kromer said.

The City Council recently approved giving out the pay hikes to employees.

Kromer said the “profit-sharing” idea was an innovative approach because of the uncertain economic outlook and the effect of state revenue cutbacks on the city’s general-fund budget.

“There was no way automatic raises could be guaranteed,” Kromer said. “But if we cut expenses, and we had savings, then everybody could share in the savings.”

Kromer added that if there was no extra money or the city had broken even financially, employees would not have received the pay bonuses.

The savings windfall will be shared among 180 employees, which includes general employees, professional and technical groups, Fire Department employees and management and city department heads.

The pay raises, retroactive to Aug. 14, amount to between $20 a month and $100 a month, depending on the employee’s job classification, Kromer said.