SAFFORD — Despite the ongoing pandemic — or actually because of it — employees of the City of Safford will see a little bit more in their paychecks starting in January.
At last Monday’s meeting, the City Council approved the second half of a pay increase for employees with two or more years of service.
The increase is $0.35 per hour, and brings the total increase this fiscal year to $0.75 an hour over what those employees were earning at the end of the last fiscal year in June.
When the raises were first approved in May, the City Council said the second half was contingent on city revenues matching the budgeted projections. At Monday’s meeting, Finance Officer Alma Valles explained the numbers look good.
“The city sales tax is at 30 percent of the budget. Compared to last year’s actuals, we have a positive variance of $159,000. So we collected approximately 12 percent more in the current fiscal compared to the prior year actual,” she said.
Meanwhile, city collections of state shared sales tax and state shared income tax are up a combined $95,000 over the same time last year.
The raises will impact 97 employees and cost is about $47,700.
