Kettering City Council OKs budget restoring jobs frozen due to COVID-19, approves pay hikes – Dayton Daily News
Credit: NICK BLIZZARD/STAFF
Credit: NICK BLIZZARD/STAFF
KETTERING — A 2022 spending plan restoring some city jobs and projecting slightly higher income tax revenue than this year has been approved for Kettering.
The plan for next year includes a general fund of $69.5 million, about half of which is earmarked for public safety, Kettering City Manager Mark Schwieterman said.
The budget is also boosted by about $13.8 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Kettering City Council Tuesday night unanimously approved the appropriations, along with a plan for 2.5% “across-the-board” wage increases for more than 200 non-union employees, according to the city.
“We are restoring our personnel budget and our full-time equivalents to pre-pandemic levels,” Schwieterman said.
“We began that process in 2021 and will complete the process” next year, he added. “We were able to restore approximately $350,000 in operating cuts related to the pandemic.”
Around 10 part-time jobs and 16 full-time ones will be restored across several departments, bringing total employment up from 545 this year to about 571 for 2022, according to the budget.
The job freezes were approved last year as the city projected losing about $4.4 million in income tax revenue for 2021 than the year prior.
However, city income tax money has risen slightly each year since 2019, according to records. It was $51.5 million the year before the pandemic, $51.8 million in 2020 and is estimated at $51.9 million this year, the proposed budget states.
Kettering is projected to collect about $52 million in income tax revenue next year, records show.
Departments where jobs will be filled include fire, finance, human resources, law, planning and development and streets.
Parks, recreation and cultural arts is budgeted to fill the Fraze Pavilion general manager’s position, which has been vacant since 2019.
Kettering council also approved a compensation plan and pay schedule for jobs ranging from part-time and seasonal positions to department heads. The new ordinance applies to 2022 personnel, Schwieterman said.
It outlines a 2.5% pay hike for employees “and it also incorporates the recently negotiated and completed collective bargaining agreements” for all Kettering unions, he said.
Compensation for part-time jobs range from $13.80 an hour $28.11 an hour depending on the pay grade and step, records show.
The full-time positions vary from $37,000 a year to $160,000 based on the pay grade and steps, according to documents.
Kettering Mayor Don Patterson has said it has been a longstanding practice for the city to go through collective bargaining talks and later provide its non-union workers with similar increases.
An August, Dayton Daily News analysis of public payrolls found the city of Kettering paid 155 employees more than $100,000 in 2020.
Records show that among the highest paid Kettering employees for 2020 were Law Director Ted Hamer, $158,119; Assistant City Manager Steve Bergstresser, $157,712; Parks and Recreation Director Mary Beth O’Dell, $144,188; and Finance Director Nancy Gregory, $143,943.
Schwieterman topped the list at $211,634.
About the Author
Nick Blizzard is a staff writer for the Dayton Daily News. He is a graduate of Stebbins High School who earned a bachelor’s degree from Ohio University and its E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. Nick is a Riverside native and has been a journalist in the Dayton area for more than 20 years.
