Bellaire City Council approves wage increase for municipal employees

On May 16, the Bellaire City Council approved a midyear wage increase for some part-time and full-time city employees to address high turnover rates across departments.

The salary step increase targets employees who have not moved up to a higher pay level since signing on to work for the city, officials said.

“Within our salary plan we have assigned a value for that position that’s in that pay range,” Bellaire Human Resources Manager Lori Remington told the council. “From that, we’ve developed steps to progress the employees.”

The city has open positions across a variety of departments and is looking to hire police officers, lifeguards, aquatic and recreation aides, and a firefighter paramedic, among other unfilled roles.

“I want this document to serve as a communication directly to our staff on behalf of our residents that we support you, we hear you and we understand there is an increasingly competitive marketplace,” Bellaire Mayor Andrew Friedberg said during the council meeting.

The city will allocate $62,950 toward the salary increases.

City staff most recently received a cost-of-living adjustment in October. The wage increase was done as part of a city retention program, interim City Manager Deacon Tittel said.

“We are developing a plan to submit with our upcoming [fiscal year 2022-23] budget that will be presented in July of this year,” Tittel said.