Earlier this week, the Joplin city council held a second special work session to address city pay. KRPS's Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.
The second work session Monday night was in addition to the two-hour and thirty-minute meeting two weeks ago, where as a result, only one of the nine council members was on board with city staff's plans to increase pay for city employees.
Issues with pay equity in Joplin date back to the fall of 2020, when city council members approved a 9 percent across-the-board pay increase. While it was a sizeable increase, it did not address equity or competitiveness.
On Monday, Joplin City Manager Nick Edwards addressed city council concerns that the city currently needed help to afford pay increases.
"As we got into 2022, and continuing into 2023, we saw an even more significant sales tax growth. So what you're seeing here, we believe we have around 2.2 million dollars in revenue, in sales tax growth, to help fund wage increases."
Joplin's firefighters agreed to a new contract in early January this year, resulting in an 11.2 percent pay increase and three percent annual merit steps over the life of the contract, totaling 15 percent.
The Joplin City Council's pay and equity discussions continue.
There was no pay increase agreement made on Monday.
For 89 9 KRPS News, I'm Fred Fletcher-Fierro
