Cd'A to pay $427,455 in raises

COEUR d'ALENE — The city of Coeur d'Alene's proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year includes more than $400,000 in merit-based pay increases.

Finance Director Troy Tymesen told The Press 126 city employees are scheduled to receive a raise this year based on their annual review. This year, according to Tymesen, the city has budgeted $427,455 to pay for the wage increases.

Employees, Tymesen said, are not eligible for a merit-based raise every year. Most employees, he added, can earn up to a 5 percent pay increase should their review come back with satisfactory marks.

Department heads can receive up to 8 percent. However, Tymesen said, those raises are rare since most have reached maximum merit raise levels during their long tenures with the city.

Members of the Coeur d'Alene Police Department will receive the most in merit-raises this year, with $164,844 being allocated by the city for their raises. The Coeur d'Alene Fire Department is the employee group receiving the second-largest allocation, $142,134, to cover merit-raises for its employees.

The city's preliminary budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year also includes a $463,732 allocation to cover a 2 percent cost of living adjustment for every employee.

During the first city council meeting in August Tymesen said he will present the council with a suggested high water mark — a dollar figure that cannot be exceeded as the overall budget develops throughout the year — for their approval. Tymesen added he will also present any new details that develop, as well as the results of his department's research into reducing the proposed 3 percent property tax increase.