EDITOR

Brian Justice

The Winchester City Council unanimously approved the 2027 fiscal-year budget with no tax increase on June 9.

However, the board’s approval involves pending action regarding a salary study with the budget to be amended at a later date if additional compensation is deemed necessary.

Winchester city employees will be getting pay raises, but how much in some categories will be determined after the salary study is completed.

The City Council agreed in a June 2 work session to have Councilman David Eldridge make comparisons to other similar cities in the coming months to determine where the city’s pay scale is for different positions.

The council approved the first budget reading at its May 12 meeting. The budget is balanced with $14.5 million in expenditures and does not include a property-tax increase.

The budget includes a 4 percent cost-of-living/merit increase for employees.

However, health-insurance costs are expected to increase by 18 percent — a situation that Councilman Mike Foster had said needs to be addressed because the pay increases would not amortize the escalated insurance costs.

The council agreed to conduct the salary study to ensure fairness in compensating all city employees.

Questions were brought up during the work session about discrepancies in police pay involving officers undergoing police-academy training. However, making adjustments in just one area could present fairness issues with other employees, council members agreed.

Fire Chief Gary Greeson summed up the situation.

“The consensus is if you do it for one, you need to do it for all,” he said.

Councilman David Eldridge echoed Greeson’s assessment.

“We need to do a survey before we start picking and choosing,” he said, explaining that salary adjustments need to be made based on proper data comparable with what other similar-sized and equipped communities are paying their employees.

The council had agreed that about $55,000, which the city has in its reserve funds, would be required to pay the additional money for step increases.

The budget also includes funding for four full-time positions, including a patrol officer, an engineering intern, a Human Resources employee and a fireman.

Top capital items include funding for phase one of an upgraded and expanded City Hall project at $2.7 million with the low bid submitted for the overall project coming in at an even $6 million.

The budget also includes $150,000 for a tracked skid-steer loader and another $150,000 for solar lighting at the city’s Bass Club, tennis courts and Adventure Mountain playground area.

The budget includes a total of $4.6 million for 16 matching grants with the city receiving $2.7 million from the state while being required to chip in $1.9 million in matching funds.