Hattiesburg, Mississippi – In early September, the Hattiesburg City Council unanimously passed the City’s first structurally-balanced general fund budget in 10 years, which included pay raises for several employees across a variety of departments throughout the city. Those pay raises will take effect during the pay period that began on November 28.
Specifically, the Fiscal Year 2021 budget addressed pay raises for the following:
- Sworn police and fire personnel will receive their annual step raises. Pay scales based on longevity and education for police officers and firefighters were adopted in January and March of 2018.
- The minimum wage for crew workers in both Public Works and Parks & Recreation will increase to $12/hour.
- The minimum wage for sanitation and transit drivers and shop mechanics in Public Works will increase to $15/hour.
- The minimum wage in the Water & Sewer Department, which is supported by a special enterprise fund paid for mainly by water rates, will increase to $14/hour.
These pay increases will be seen on December 18 paychecks, and they are a continued effort over the last three and a half years to invest in city employees across all departments.
“Getting Hattiesburg back on a good financial foundation – completing five year’s worth of audits in 3.5 years, regaining our bond rating and passing a structurally balanced budget – was a high priority when we came into office in 2017,” said Mayor Toby Barker. “But, we also recognized that there needed to be a focus on investing in our employees and not just once, but continually moving the needle.”
He added, “While we’ve not been able to do everything at once, I am proud of the significant steps we’ve made at working toward a system of pay increases that is equitable. It’s also a way for us to show financial appreciation for the tireless work our employees put forth for the residents of Hattiesburg. Our vision is to see all of our employees earn a living wage, and we are committed to doing the steady, decisive work to build the financial capacity to do just that.”
Every budget adopted since 2017 has included a focus on increasing wages for employees. A year by year look includes:
2020 – 2021 (Fiscal Year 2021)
- Sworn police and fire personnel will receive a new round of step raises.
- The minimum wage for crew workers in both Public Works and Parks & Recreation will increase to $12/hour.
- The minimum wage for sanitation and transit drivers and shop mechanics in Public Works will increase to $15/hour.
- The minimum wage in the Water & Sewer Department, which is supported by a special enterprise fund paid for mainly by water rates, will increase to $14/hour.
2019 – 2020 (Fiscal Year 2020)
- The minimum wage for the Water and Sewer Department increased to $13/hour.
- The minimum wage for sanitation and transit drivers in Public Works increased to $14/hour.
- The minimum wage for crew workers in Public Works increased to $11/hour.
2018 – 2019 (Fiscal Year 2019)
- Sworn police and fire personnel received a new round of step raises, spread over FY 2019 and FY 2020.
- The minimum wage for the Water and Sewer Department increased to $11/hour.
- The minimum wage for sanitation drivers in Public Works increased to $13/hour.
- The minimum wage for shop mechanics in Public Works increase to $14/hour.
- Code Enforcement officers received a $1,000 raise on their annual salary
2017 – 2018 (Fiscal Year 2018)
- Pay raises were adopted based on longevity for employees in the departments of Water and Sewer, Public Works and Parks and Recreation
- 2-4 years: $0.25/hour
- 5-9 years: $0.50/hour
- 10-14 years: $0.75/hour
- 15-19 years: $1.00/hour
- 20-24 years: $1.25/hour
- 25+ years: $1.50/hour
- Code Enforcement officers received a $1,000 raise on their annual salary.
- Pay scales were adopted for sworn fire and police personnel based on longevity and education. This went into effect in April of 2018.
##