Recordpub.com - Salaries in Kent are on the increase Top administrators' average pay is $83,860 per year

By Matt Fredmonsky
Record-Courier staff writer
A budget deficit remains a top concern for officials in the city of Kent where expenses are exceeding revenues to the tune of about $2 million annually.
Yet the salaries of several city department heads continue to climb toward the $100,000 mark while two top administrators already receive more than one-tenth of $1 million yearly.
In 2006, the salaries of the city's top service, community development, health, finance, safety and police and fire personnel averaged $79,837. That average rose in 2007 to $81,515 and again in 2008 to $83,860. The number excludes the city law director, whose current salary is $118,811, the city manager, who receives $101,764 and the city engineer, who is paid $81,069 yearly.
The average also excludes the city's parks and recreation director, who, unlike the city's other department heads, is paid not out of general governmental funds but through parks funds. The position's salary currently is $81,069.
The city's department heads, unlike the service and clerical workers they oversee, do not negotiate their salaries because they are non-union employees. They are at-will employees who work without a contract.
"They're all part of the city's general compensation plan," said Liz Zorc, Kent's human resources manager. "It basically spells out the benefits and salaries for these non-union employees. Generally, what happens is our raises for the people in the general compensation plan mirror what is negotiated for the unions."
In 2006 and 2007, the union and general compensation employees received a 3 percent cost of living increase. In 2008, both employee categories received a 2.75 percent pay increase.
Primarily, a general compensation employee's pay increase is determined by the supervisor. The majority of the city's top administrators report directly to Kent City Manager Dave Ruller.
City leaders often refer to personnel-related costs as consuming roughly 75 percent of the city's expenses.
But the city has saved money in recent years by leaving positions vacant. In 2007, the city saved a net total of $1.1 million through personnel vacancies left unstaffed after an employee resigned, retired or was terminated. A total $790,000 of those savings came in the city's governmental fund, which pays salaries for department heads.
Ruller said there is no question the city's administrators have held discussions about reducing administrative salaries to help balance the city's budget.
"In the end, we have generally said "look, we recognize what we have been doing over the last 10 years is slowly, steadily reducing the number of positions we have in general,'" Ruller said. "We've been able to cut a position that may have been a $60,000 position and save that money.
"The workload didn't go away, so the people who are left are carrying significantly more workloads," Ruller said. "And to that extent we feel it's only fair to make sure we compensate people for that."
But the city is slowly filling some of those empty positions.
In 2006, 21 employees " the most in 10 years " left the city for a variety of reasons. The city had 19 vacancies at the end of the year. By the end of 2007, the city had 16 vacancies. As of April 28, the city had nine vacant job positions, according to a report from the city's budget and finance department.
In 2006, the city of Green conducted a survey in which it compared the salaries of its top administrators with those in the cities of Kent, Tallmadge, Hudson, Stow, Twinsburg and several other Summit County communities.
The report showed the minimum and maximum pay ranges for specific administrative positions. In the report, Kent ranked high in some position pay rates and low in others when compared to the area cities.
Ruller said the raises and salaries Kent's administrators receive are not out of the ordinary.
"We are definitely watching spending on the human resources end and we monitor it," he said. "But likewise, people who do good work, we're committed to fair compensation for them."
Ruller's compensation mindset is echoed by Kent City Council Finance Committee Chairman Wayne Wilson.
Wilson said data analyzed during the nearly year-long budget analysis with the Blue Ribbon Finance Committee showed Kent is not out of line with other communities in terms of administrative compensation.
"Actually, some of them are probably a little bit low on the scale," Wilson said. "And our employees, I feel, are professionals and they should be paid appropriately. Given the restraints we have, I think we try to do the best we can for the employees and the city overall of course."