Eagle Mountain may increase pay to keep employees from leaving

EAGLE MOUNTAIN — Eagle Mountain may give city employees raises in an effort to keep them from working for other cities that pay more.

The City Council is mulling an amendment that would increase the annual city budget by $152,011 to allow for the pay increase.

"We want to prevent the city from becoming a training ground," said Ifo Pili, city management analyst. He said because of the city's growth, city employees have had to take on additional responsibilities that have given them experience that makes them more valuable.

"With the growth that we've received, one thing we're experiencing is a lot of turnover," Pili said. "Since 2000, we've lost 51 permanent (position) employees."

These employees are being hired by local cities that are willing to pay them more. Pili said a waste-water technician left to work for Payson and a city inspector went to Springville because the job paid more.

"We're becoming a training ground for employees because ... they have had the opportunity to come here and jump into real substantial positions and take on responsibilities that they normally wouldn't be given in another city," he said.

The city wants to prevent additional turnover. Pili said the extra responsibilities make city employees invaluable, and the staff is now more than competent and capable. He said about 90 percent of employees were not paid competitively in comparison with other cities.

City employees' wages were compared with the "pay bands," or maximum amount an employee can receive, in nearby cities such as Lehi, Saratoga Springs, Spanish Fork and Springville.

"It was hard for us to compare apples to apples, but we narrowed it down the best we could and found out what their wages were and compared it with ours," Pili said. The amendment would put Eagle Mountain pay bands at an average of the compared cities.

The pay increase would be funded by what Pili said is a $1 million surplus in sales and property taxes fueled by the city's growth. It was projected that 475 building permits would be sold within the fiscal year. Since July, however, 533 have been issued.

Both the sales and property taxes are projected to bring in revenue of more than $900,000 each for the fiscal year of 2007, which is about $200,000 more than the amount the City Council had predicted.

"We have money in the budget to cover it. We'll have a figure, if everything passes, this is the number that will get us up to (par with everybody else)," Pili said.

City Council members have been aware of the discrepancy in pay, he said. In fact, they seem enthusiastic about paying their employees competitively.

"It's exciting that we're in the position to really do something about this," said council member David Lifferth.

The City Council will decide on the amendment during a Feb. 6 meeting.

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