Waterloo Times

The Evansdale City Council debated various budget-related concerns, notably staff salaries, during its meeting on March 7.

The council discussed the need to raise the police chief's salary, after having done so for the rest of the department last year. In August, the council approved a 3% raise across the board for the police department in order to attract more applicants to fill open positions and retain current officers. Starting wages for trained officers is now $25 an hour, with a union-approved increase of 2.75% coming this year. Mayor DeAnne Kobiska proposed a 6% increase for the chief position, saying that would still be less than the national average and adding that it was needed to retain experienced leadership. Council member Steve Seible was hesitant to approve such a large raise.

Council member Jeff Bergman said he believed the increase is necessary because the chief's salary has "been left behind the last several years, apparently," adding that if it's difficult for the city to recruit officers, then "what happens when we lose a chief? And so I'm not trying to say that, you know, absolutely throw everything at him. But I think we need to look at the high side of that 6%. I really do."

In the case of Police Chief Mike Dean, he said, the raise was necessary, "if we're trying to retain an employee that's already proven themselves here, rather than having to try to go out and do this all over again.

In other budget discussions, the council discussed the state-determined property tax rollback, which won't change the city’s budgetary plans much, the council is still deep in budgetary talks. one area of debate was the city parks department and its projects, including the purchase of a new golf cart, resurfacing of the parking lot at Angel’s Park, installation of new park signs and new showers at the campground. All those items were approved, since they fell well within the budget, and despite talk of waiting and raising reserve funds for the parking lot, the council decided to spend the money since it is already on hand.

The council also discussed potential wage increases within the public works department, including a possible 5% increase for the public works director, similar to that of the police chief, as well as a big increase for their workers. Kobiska vouched for the increase, saying those were the city workers who often are out in the middle of the night dealing with frozen pipes, sewer leakage, making sure icy streets were safe and clear, and dealing with weekend events. The council didn't adopt the wage increase, but voted to consider it at the next meeting.