New Castle City Council members have finalized pay rates for municipal elected officials and employees, as well as signing off on a proposed budget for 2017 and approving an ordinance regarding sidewalk construction requirements.
Ordinances 3752 through 3758, all dealing with salaries, were unanimously passed on second and third reading.
Council president Mark Koger previously said there are some increases in police, fire and EMS pay, which are being funded by the Public Safety Local Option Income Tax. The measures also increased the mayor, clerk-treasurer and director of public works pay rates. Otherwise, there are no salary increases.
Ordinance 3752, the elected officials salary ordinance, calls for paying the mayor $1,791 every two weeks from the general fund, as well as $521 every month from the utility fund. The clerk-treasurer is to be paid $1,458 every two weeks from the general fund plus $486 monthly from the utility fund, and the city judge is to be paid $220 every two weeks.
Ordinances 3753 through 3758 deal with the pay rate for Department of Finance employees, administrative and management personnel salaries, EMS, fire, police and hourly employee salaries.
The salary ordinances are viewable in their entirety online at www.cityofnewcastle.net. (Under the “Government” tab, select “City Council” from the drop-down menu and then “City Council Legislation Log” and then “2016.” Ordinances and resolutions are listed numerically.)
The council also passed Ordinance 3751 on third reading. This ordinance is the city’s budget for 2017 and calls for a total expenditure of $23,030,303. That number is up slightly from the $22,737,404 in outlays approved by the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance for the current year. The budget will be submitted to the DLGF which has the authority to decrease any line item but not to increase any of the submitted figures.
These ordinances all passed with little or no comment from council members, the clerk-treasurer or the mayor.
Ordinance 3759 also was passed on third reading. This measure requires new commercial construction projects to install sidewalks that meet city code in front of their establishment. Construction of a new sidewalk in residential zones is also required, but only if sidewalks already exist to either side of the new construction site.
Council member Rex Peckinpaugh, a vocal supporter of requiring new sidewalks and maintenance of existing sidewalks, indicated this measure meets his expectations and made the motion to approve it.
The New Castle City Council will next meet at 7 p.m. Nov. 7 in council chambers, 227 N. Main St.
