Council Passes Merit Raises for Management, Non-Union Staff

The Ridgewood Village Council introduced a pair of ordinances that will freeze salaries for non-union and management staff while rewarding them with merit-based bonuses.

The ordinances will allow for up to a 1.5 percent increase in salary to management and non-union staff for both 2012 and 2013. The increases apply to pension status. Village Manager Ken Gabbert previously said the total pool is just north of $30,000. Initially, the ordinances proposed increases of up to 1.9 percent before they were revised.

The idea for merit-based compensation sprung in 2011, with the previous council voting to award raises of up to 4 percent for staff in 2011 and retroactive to 2010, a year more than 30 workers were laid off. It was celebrated by some officials as the new frontier in government, a more equitable compensation measure modeled after the private sector.

Councilman Tom Riche voted against Ordinance 3378 on the grounds Gabbert should have been eligible to receive an increase. Gabbert received a controversial 12 percent raise in 2010. The other four council members voted in favor of the two ordinances on Wednesday night.