The city of Columbus is setting aside funds to help combat the effects of inflation and encourage employee retention.
On Tuesday, Columbus City Council approved a resolution to give city employees one-time payments for these purposes. The payments will be made on July 29 and range from $500 to $2,000 before taxes. Payments will not be made to elected officials, said City Director of Administration and Community Development Mary Ferdon.
The approved resolution states that, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Consumer Price Index increased 8.6% for the year ending May 2022. City officials said that this is the largest 12-month advance since December of 1981 and has had a significant impact on city employees.
“When we set our budget last year, we were looking at 2-3% COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment),” said City Director of Finance, Operations and Risk Jamie Brinegar. “… COLA was expected to rise over the third quarter of the year, and then all financial indicators were that it would drop by the end of the year. Unfortunately, we had another big, strong round of COVID hit us, along with a few other mitigating factors.”
The city has also seen a noticeable increase in employee departures.
“In the first quarter of 2022, the City of Columbus experienced almost twice the number of employee separations as compared to the last two years in the same period,” the resolution states.
The approved cost of living payments will be made to full-time and “ongoing” part-time employees. The latter category includes individuals who average 20 hours a week or more and are not temporary or seasonal. The payment amounts will be as follows:
- $2,000 to employees who are currently full-time and were full-time without a break in service on Oct. 1, 2021.
- $1,500 to employees who are currently full-time and were full-time without a break in service on Jan. 1, 2022.
- $1,000 to employees who are currently full-time and were full-time without a break in service on April 1, 2022.
- $1,000 to part-time employees who were employed without a break in service on Oct. 1, 2021.
- $750 to part-time employees who were employed without a break in service on Jan. 1, 2022.
- $500 to part-time employees who were employed without a break in service on April 1, 2022.
Funds for PERF, FICA and other required taxes will be deducted from these payments as necessary.
Any individual who leaves the city’s employment before July 22 will not receive the cost of living payment. Additionally, Brinegar said that employees who started with the city after April 1 will not receive a payment.
“In our calculations, we’ve been adjusting those job offerings, salaries and payments to meet the cost of living adjustment,” he explained.
According to Brinegar, two different methods will be used to fund the one-time payments. For public safety officials, the city will use American Rescue Plan funds. For other city staff — including non-sworn police and fire employees — general fund reserves will fund the payments.
“ARP could be used fully for all of our employees because it is a one-time cost of living adjustment as well as a retainage issue for us,” he said. “However, we have not received our second year’s ARP funds, and I don’t want to commit those funds until we have them in place.”
During Tuesday’s meeting, city council approved the first reading of a number of appropriations, including over $400,000 that will support the payments. Appropriation ordinances, unlike resolutions, require two readings for full approval.
The appropriations include maximum amounts of $330,000 from the city’s general fund, $20,000 from the motor vehicle highway fund and $95,000 from the parks and recreation general fund. Funds for COLA payments were also included in a larger appropriation for the transit department.
“The greatest asset the city has, bar none, is its employees,” said Ferdon. “And so, Jamie talks about retention, but when we lose an employee, not only do we lose their experience and their training, but oftentimes we lose somebody who has really served the community here.”
Furthermore, every time the city hires someone new, they have to budget $500 to $1,000 just to advertise for the position, she said. Sometimes additional advertising is required to find a sufficient number of candidates.
Ferdon noted that the city is also doing an update to its previous salary study.
When asked if the 2023 COLA would reflect the 8.6% Consumer Price Index increase, Brinegar said that officials have received some preliminary information from the salary study update.
“The positions range from 2-3% growth in the salaries that we have up to 15-16% percent, depending on the position,” he said. “So there is some reflection of the COLA increases we’ve seen over the last two years.”
