1% raise for nonunion Wheaton employees

Nonunion workers in Wheaton are in line to receive a slight bump in pay during the next fiscal year. Just don’t call it a step or merit increase.

At Monday’s council meeting, officials introduced a measure that will increase the amount the city pays for each step in its pay schedule by 1 percent. The move would give each nonunion worker the pay bump but does not officially move them up to the next step. The increase, which falls in line with the approved budget for next fiscal year, is expected to be officially adopted at the board’s next meeting.

In the city’s pay system, salary ranges are based upon certain steps that must be attained. For example, under the new pay schedule, the city’s senior project engineer would make $72,144 a year in Step 1. A bump to Step 2 would result in a raise of about 3 percent to $74,452. But this freezes employees on the same step for this year.

City Manager Don Rose said the raise lags behind inflation and matches the city’s bump last year, which came one year after nonunion employees received no raise.

“It’s a number that takes into consideration what the union people will get and the (consumer price index), and we’re trying to give employees a little something to compensate their hard work,” he said.

Rose said contracts with the four unions that represent most of the city’s employees expire May 1.

Also at the meeting, officials approved some changes to the city’s personnel manual, including several that will expand the city’s computer policies to now cover the latest technologies, such as city-issued smart phones.

Because of a state law enacted at the new year, the city also cleaned up its policy manual to remove any rules that regulated the length of time election candidates have to remove campaign signs after the election. Wheaton had required the signs’ removal within seven days. However, a new state law enacted Jan. 1 allows signs to remain up indefinitely.

The city council meeting was the last before today’s election, which will change the makeup of the board with two open at-large seats up for grabs and a mayoral race to be determined.