| 12/12/2012 |
| City OKs 2.5% wage increase |
| By CHUCK CLEMENT, Staff Reporter |
Madison's city employees should find their wages increased by 2.5 percent when they receive their 2013 paychecks.
According to Jennifer Eimers, the city finance officer, the 2.5 percent increase was applied across the board. "All of the positions, including the supervisors, received a 2.5 percent increase," Eimers said. "Except for the electric superintendent -- that position received a 10 percent increase." The salary range for Madison's electric superintendent during 2013 will start at $62,400 and extend to $78,000 per year. The superintendent's 2012 salary ranged from a minimum of $56,300 to a maximum of $70,400 each year. Eimers said the 2013 compensation for city employees included a 3 percent increase in the employer share of the payments for medical and dental health-care coverage. City officials have made a change for the 2013 budget in paying for health-care coverage. Previously, the city paid a percentage of the total premium at 95 percent for a single employee, 90 percent for an employee with either two-party insurance or employee and children, and 80 percent for an employee with a family insurance policy. The city share will switch to a dollar amount set at about $530 per month for a single employee, about $925 per month for an employee plus one other person, about $1,038 per month for an employee and children, and about $1,089 per month for an employee's family. The city will adjust its health-care payments every Jan. 1 by using the lower amount from the choices of the Social Security cost-of-living increase or 3 percent. Eimers said the new system will lead to the employees paying more for the premium increases to health-care insurance. "You could say that the new dollar amounts are basically a cap (on payments) right now because the city will not pay a percentage like it did before," Eimers said. During 2012, the expenses related to personnel were 25 percent of the total $19.4 million budget, according to information provided by the city finance office. The personnel expenses included paying for salaries, Social Security, health insurance, workmen's compensation, and retirement contributions. In comparison, Madison appropriated about 30 percent of its 2012 budget toward the purchase of electricity for the municipal utility. The other parts of the 2012 city budget were: -- Capital-outlay expenses at 11 percent. -- A category of current expenses that included utilities, insurance, supplies fuel and dues at 13 percent. -- An Other category that included subsidies, contingency funds and debt service.
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