TORRINGTON – For the third year in a row, the Torrington City Council approved merit-based pay increases for city employees on Tuesday, but not without a bit of polite disagreement over policy matters.

The disagreement arose over a policy change made in January, after the last round of merit-based increases. The change set wage caps on employees, making them ineligible for merit increases, once they’ve reached a set pay level based on their job description.

Council member Deanna Hill, who chaired the city’s wage committee and made the recommendations, said there were seven employees who’d reached their respective wage caps. The committee, however, recommended giving those seven the pay increases, based on positive employee evaluations done earlier by their respective supervisors.

The proposed increases would require amending the city budget by about $80,700, Hill said. That is money that already set aside within the budget but not yet appropriated for the increases, she said.

“It’s a budget (item City Clerk/Treasurer) Lynette (Strecker) is able to plan for ahead of time, if it did get approved,” Hill said. “It’s a number that’s already in the budget, so it’s not a shock to the system.”

Council member Matt Mattis questioned increases for the seven employees who reached their wage caps with merit increases they’d received last January. Based on the policy change setting the caps, Mattis said he couldn’t vote in good conscience to approve raises for those individuals.

“We have a policy in place – and this is what I struggle with – we have a policy in place for employees who are top earners in their scale,” Mattis said. “That policy states that the employee who is at the top of their scale is not eligible for merit raises.

“What I struggle with is we want to include these merit wages for these seven individuals, and I struggle with there’s a policy stating we shouldn’t do that,” he said. “It’s very hard for me to go against policy, because I don’t want to start a slippery slope for next year.”

Mattis went on to say he was concerned about the message that would send to employees in the future who wouldn’t receive raises based on the policy.

“Merit raises in general, great,” he said. “I think everyone is deserving. But I do not think I will be able to approve for these seven, due to the policy stating they’re not eligible.”

Hill pointed out she and Mattis had discussed the matter during a work session on Monday. The policy setting the wage caps was adopted after the last round of increases which placed the seven employees at the top of their scale, she said. Hill was concerned, because of the timing of the raises in January versus the adoption of the new policy, she wanted to be fair to all employees.

“Those employees were put in the top (wage tier) before that policy went into effect,” Hill said. “I think those few employees – maybe it was all of us who did a disservice, I don’t know.”

Hill added one answer to the issue may be better communication between the council and city department heads and employees, explaining the pay policy. 

“I think we could have done a better job with educating our department heads down into staff so our staff knew” about the policy changes and wage caps, she said. “And maybe that’s my fault, being chair of the wage committee, that I dropped that somewhere.”

Council members Bill Law and Ted Kinney said they understood Mattis’s concerns. It’s never an easy decision to make when going against policies adopted by the council, they said.

“I have to agree with Councilman Mattis – we do have policies for a reason,” Kinney said. “I think, if we were to put that information in that this is this year only, it’s not going to happen again, I would be willing to vote for this.

“But I think if that were left out or the dates were changed or they come back next year, I’d tell them no,” he said. “It’s not going to happen because it’s against the policy.”

Mayor Randy Adams agreed, noting Mattis had made a valid point in expressing his concerns. Adams said the proposed pay increases this year are unique and the council and city staff could use it as a teachable moment.

“Once an employee reaches the top of their scale, they’re topped out,” Adams said. “The exception being that, this year, we would like to do a better job of educating those department heads, educating our staff, so they understand what’s going on.”

Hill moved to approve all the merit increases, including the seven employees in question. She included language in the motion, stipulating this was a one-time raise which would go into effect in January 2020 and would not be offered again to individuals who had reached the top level of their wage tier.

She further recommended a pay increase for Torrington Water Department Operator Dale Radford, separate from the merit increases, based on Radford successfully completing a qualification test in May. Radford completed the test after the budget was approved and after the last round of pay increases, Hill said. 

The increase for Radford, based on his continuing to increase his skills level, is allowed by city policy, she said. Hill’s motion was seconded by Council Member Law.

Before the vote, however, Mattis reiterated his objections.

“I feel the merit raises are worthwhile for the people who aren’t capped,” he said. “I’m in full agreement with the other ones, but I can’t see myself voting for” the motion to give increases to the seven.

“It’s not that I’m voting no on everything else,” Mattis said. “Basically, my vote will be based on those seven employees.”

The motion passed 4-1 with Mattis, true to his word, the lone decenting vote.