City wages compare favorably with county, similar sized cities

Jason Ferguson

Published: Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

  Administrators for the City of Custer compare are paid as well or better than most employees with similar job functions at the county level and around the Black Hills. But don’t expect Custer Mayor Harold Stickney to apologize for it. “We have some very capable administrators. When you have those kind of people, you sure want to keep them,” Stickney said. “Some people may think they are overpaid, but I don’t.” The salaries of the administrators have come under fire recently, mostly from Custer resident Helen Flora, who has approached the council twice on behalf of a group of citizens who have asked the administrators take pay cuts in these hard economic times. To this point, the city hasn’t shown any inclination pay cuts are coming. Stickney points out when he inherited the job, the city had an administrator who made $50,000. He let the administrator go, and spread $15,000 of that salary among the other administrator positions. “In effect, I saved the city $35,000,” he said. The three salaries in question are those of public works director Bob Morrison, finance office Chris Redden and community development director Rex Harris. Morrison is paid a base wage of $59,805. With taxes, insurance and retirement, his gross pay is $72,624 a year. For Redden, the base pay is $55,818, and $68,094 with benefits. Harris is paid a base of $51,612 a year, and $63,313 with benefits. Morrison has worked for the city for nearly 13 years, while Redden has worked for the city seven years, and Harris almost three. The three also get holidays, vacation and sick days paid, which is not calculated into the gross pay totals. Those with similar jobs at the county level are John Culberson, highway superintendent, Linda Nelson, county auditor, and David Green, planning director. According to county figures, Culberson is paid a base salary of $43,500 annually, which goes to $62,245.75 with benefits. Nelson is paid a base salary of $40,500, which goes to $52,357.25 with benefits. For Green, the base salary is $36,500, and $51,642 with benefits. Those figures include holiday pay, vacation and sick days. Nelson, however, does not accrue sick or vacation time as an elected official. In Lead, city administrator Mike Stahl makes a base of $49,000, and has an assistant finance officer that makes $14.94 an hour. The city has five salaried positions total. Among the base salaries for those positions are: building inspector, $37,000; utilities supervisor, $41,400; public works supervisor, $45,800. They, like all of the communities contacted, also get full benefits that includes holiday, vacation and sick pay. Stahl said city employees receive a 3 percent raise across the board annually. This year, Custer administrators received a 3 percent merit raise, as well as a 4 percent cost-of-living raise. In Hill City, the finance officer, with 17 years of service, is paid $42,848. The public works director, with 20 years of service, is paid $45,115, while the city administrator, with one year of service, is paid $56,243. They, too, have a full benefits, package, and receive a 3 percent raise at the first of the year. In Keystone, a smaller town, finance officer Vanessa Row said she is paid $16.91 an hour, or roughly $36,000 year, plus benefits. The public works director makes around $37,000 a year, plus benefits. Raises are dependent on what the state gives its employees, she said. “Whatever the state gets, we get,” she said. “If they get nothing, we get nothing.” In Hot Springs last year, the finance officer made $49,212, with full benefits. The public works engineer was paid $60,465, while the “water guy,” for lack of a better term, was paid $54,308. Both of those positions also received full benefits. For raises, Hot Springs has a 10 step scale. Once you hit the top of the scale, you receive no more raises. The pay scale for the vast majority of administrative positions in the state can be found online at the South Dakota Municipal League’s website, which is www.sdmunicipalleague.org. In larger cities, such as Rapid City employees received a 2.5 percent step increase, and anyone in grades 22 and higher got an additional 2.5 percent step increase.  on July 1, all those at grades 22 and higher are set to get another 2.5 percent step increase. Proponents of the raises say one factor not frequently mentioned in the discussion that can be considered in terms of salaries in Custer is the cost of living. Compared to many areas in the Hills and around the state, Custer has a higher cost of living. The amount of hours the various employees work also has to be factored in, as many wear various hats. South Dakota ranks first in the nation in households in which both adults must work to make ends meet, and proponents of the raises say they want to pay a nice living wage that results in a good quality of life and makes the jobs in demand. If someone can make a lot more money in Rapid City, they will leave Custer to do so. Alderman Ed Starr said making city administrator jobs in demand is beneficial to the people of the city, because a better job is done by those in the position. He said it is disappointing to him to see people work full-time in some jobs and still not have money to have a decent place to live, a car that runs or still have to get government assistance. By paying a good living wage, he said, everyone benefits. “As a government leader, I don’t think it’s inappropriate to pay a living wage. It’s the correct thing to do,” he said. “We want to be leaders, not followers.”