New Salaries For City Employees Will Have To Wait

HOOVER, AL - A new salary scale for Hoover's city employees will have to wait, as the Hoover City Council delayed its vote on the new schedule last week. A new salary scale proposed by Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato would provide raises for all city employees and increase the maximum pay that could be earned in the future as raises are given over time.

A report by the Hoover Sun said the overall changes would cost the city about $1.3 million to implement, plus about $200,000 more to cover step raises that would be called for under the new proposal. Without the new salary schedule, step raises for this coming year would be $1 million, but with it, they would total $1.2 million.

Salaries for Hoover employees on average are 3.7 percent below salaries in nearby or similar cities or similar private sector jobs. Public safety jobs, which represent a large chunk of Hoover employees, had salaries that were 4.26 percent less than salaries in nearby or similar cities. Under the new proposal, maximum pay levels would increase from a low of .46 percent to more than 30 percent. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Patch morning newsletter.)

The variation in salary increases was dictated by how far the current pay scale is out of line with other jurisdictions, with some adjustments made for internal equity purposes. Although Hoover council members expressed approval of most of the new proposal, they opted not to put the issue to a vote until they could study the proposed pay raises more closely.

Council President Gene Smith said he believes the council should be ready to address the salary scale at its Sept. 17 meeting.

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