On Tuesday Salem city councilors will consider raising city utility rates on households by roughly $5 a month for water, stormwater and sewage.  If approved, the 4.5% rate increase would take effect in January, raising about $4.5 to $5 million extra in 2025 for the city’s utility fund. Another 4.5% increase in utility rates is also proposed for 2026. Mayor Chris Hoy is also proposing an $18,000 annual salary increase for City Manager Keith Stahley, which would bring his salary to $270,000 annually.  The proposal comes as Salem faces an $18 million budget deficit. Councilors in October unanimously approved pay increases for most union-represented city employees that will cost the city $25 million over three years. Hoy said the city manager pay increase increase is necessary to keep the position competitive relative to other Oregon cities, and to keep the manager’s pay higher than that of his deputies. Salem plans to raise utility costs by about $5 per month starting in January 2025 How to participate The meeting starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12, and will be both in-person at the council chambers, 555 Liberty St. S.E., and available to watch online. Members of the public can submit a comment for the public hearing on utility rates or on any other item on the council agenda. To comment remotely, sign up on the city website between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Tuesday. The meeting will be livestreamed on YouTube in English and Spanish. For written comments, email [email protected] before 5 p.m. on Tuesday, or submit on paper to the city recorder’s office at the Civic Center, 555 Liberty St. S.E., Room 225. Include a statement indicating the comment is for the public record. Salem residents could pay more for utilities starting next year  Councilors will hold a public hearing and then vote on a utility rate increase. If approved, an average Salem home would pay about $128 per month for water, sewer and stormwater, up from the current $123. The city’s water, wastewater, and stormwater systems need more funding to keep up with community needs and to comply with state and federal regulations, Brian Martin, the city’s public works director, said in a staff report. The consistent annual increases are necessary to both operate and maintain the systems, provide services, and complete important capital projects, Martin said.  The 4.5% rate increases were recommended by a task force which included city councilors, Marion County Commissioners and representatives from the cities of Keizer and Turner, a representative of the Suburban East Salem Water District, a representative of the Salem Chamber of Commerce and the Strategic Economic Development Corporation, and two community members.  The task force also recommended approving the allocation of up to $400,000 of utility revenue to help support the 2025 emergency utility assistance program. City councilors on Tuesday will also vote on extending that program to Dec. 31, 2026. The program criteria were broadened in 2020. The resolution would authorize the annual utility revenue funds to go towards assistance for qualified customers beginning next year, but reduce the amount each customer can receive from $500 per year to $350. If approved, the program could help about 1,143 people receive assistance in 2025 and 2026. The utility fund is separate from the city’s general fund, which pays for most general services like public safety, parks and the library. While Salem’s general fund faces an $18 million budget deficit, the utility fund is in good financial shape.  Salem residents have grown weary of cost increases, indicating in recent city polling that they are unwilling to vote for property tax increases to help pay for city services. Leading up to the Tuesday council meeting community members sent in about a dozen public comments in opposition of the possible utility hikes.  “It’s all about bleeding us dry of our hard earned income to prop up the city, raise wages for staff who don’t do diddly, and bennies,” Salem resident Cheryl Eby wrote to the city as public comment. “None of the money ever seems to get to where it needs to go, like fixing our decaying roads and sidewalks, or dealing with water storage issues as we had a few years ago…It must stop now.”  City manager’s salary  Councilors will vote on a 7.3% salary increase for Stahley, who currently makes $252,000 per year. In February 2022 the city council set the city manager salary range at $220,000 to $250,000, and Stahley was hired in July of that year at a salary of $240,000, Hoy’s motion said.  In July 2023, Stahley received a 5% cost of living adjustment, which was part of his employment contract, bringing his annual salary to $252,000. Stahley did not receive a pay increase based on merit after his first year, and his one-year performance evaluation was completed by the city council in April of this year. His salary was not increased after Stahley said he did not want to be considered for an increase.  Hoy told Salem Reporter the salary increase is a regular and necessary order of business but that it comes at less than ideal timing given the city’s nearly $18 million budgetary shortfall for 2025.  Hoy said the city’s human resources department sets pay scales for all city employees except for the city manager, so adjustments must be made to avoid stagnation and to ensure a salary rate separation between the city manager and those working under him.  “His salary just ends up being stagnant and eventually people pass him by. So, this is just my attempt to fix that with a minimal increase to make it so he is the highest paid city employee,” Hoy said. “He is the guy with the most responsibility, he is the guy running the whole thing. In my mind he deserves to be paid at that rate.”  If approved, the salary increase would create a 5% buffer in pay between the highest paid deputy city manager position and the city manager. Stahley’s new salary would be about $270,000 annually, the report showed, bringing his salary closer to the salary of the city manager in comparably sized cities like Eugene, where the city manager makes $286,354 a year.  Other items City councilors Tuesday will also vote on the third amendment to the purchase and sale agreement between the city and Home First Development and Green Light Development for the sale of the former Salem General Hospital site. The amendment will allow the buyer to take ownership of the property by early December to avoid the risk of losing state funding for the affordable housing project.  Also on Tuesday Mayor Hoy will propose a public censure for City Councilor Julie Hoy, also the mayor-elect, and Councilor Deanna Gwyn after the two chose to recently vote on a land use decision involving a campaign donor.  Contact reporter Joe Siess: [email protected] or 503-335-7790. A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE – If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE. The post City council to consider raising utility rates, $18k pay increase for city manager appeared first on Salem Reporter.