NATCHEZ, Miss. – Mayor Dan Gibson broke Natchez aldermen’s 3-3 ties to give pay raises Tuesday to three city employees after closing the public out of their discussions detailing who they are.
While the mayor and aldermen didn’t publicly specify the work the employees did or what their new salaries are, they justified the raises as needed to retain essential City Hall personnel. The three dissenting aldermen said it’s uncertain if the city can afford them.
One unnamed employee got a $10,000 pay raise; another got a $5,000 increase; another got 4 percent more in pay.
Gibson said he voted to give the employees higher salaries to ensure they won’t get lured away to another job that pays more. “If we lose the talent we have in this city, it absolutely sets us back,” the mayor said.
Siding with Gibson: Aldermen Valencia Hall, Sarah Carter Smith and Ben Davis.
Alderman Felicia Irving said the pay raises shouldn’t be provided without more details on why the three employees deserve more and if the city can afford the expenses.
The board, Irving said, “cannot continue to give raises and not have documentation if we are progressing.”
The city just began its fiscal year this month. “Is it going to be sustainable in the next administration?” she said of the higher wages.
Siding with Irving against the pay raises: Aldermen Billie Joe Frazier and Dan Dillard.
In explaining the lack of information provided at the meeting about the three city employees and their pay raises, Gibson said he and aldermen have to “be careful about personnel matters in a public forum.”
The mayor and board just gave the three employees’ ID numbers in Tuesday’s public meeting. They had previously discussed the merits of the pay hikes in a closed-door meeting last month.
State law allows government boards to keep the public out of discussions or records concerning employees’ abilities or health, but it’s questionable about boards being mute on disclosing the names of public employees getting pay raises.
After the board approved the new salaries Tuesday, Frazier requested aldermen give themselves a pay raise, but that attempt was met with silence and failed.
The City laws prohibit salary increases other than at the time of the adoption of the budget for the succeeding year as the Mayor did here.
Sec. 2-85. – Salary increases (Rule 49).
Other than at the time of the adoption of the budget for the succeeding year, no salary raises shall be made without first referring same to the finance committee to be sure that funds are provided for this purpose in the budget and approved by the board at two successive regular meetings. This rule shall not be subject to suspension as in rule 50.
(Res. of 7-1-92, rule 49)