Rockville employees will receive pay raises of up to 6.75 percent next year, despite a continuing recession that has forced state and county governments and private businesses to freeze pay and cut jobs.
The city council on a 3-2 vote approved next year’s $100 million budget with a 3.25 percent cost-of-living increase for all 550 employees and varying pre-negotiated increases and merit-based increases for union and nonunion employees.
Opposing the budget were Councilwomen Phyllis Marcuccio and Anne Robbins, who said the $1.7 million the city was going to spend on pay raises would have been better spent at a lowering property taxes and fees.
“They really balanced this budget on the backs of the residents,” said Robbins, who added that the pay raise sent a message to cash-strapped Montgomery County, which provides many services for the city, that Rockville was “dancing in money.”
Montgomery County needed its employees to agree to forgo their cost-of-living raises next year to help balance a more than $600 million budget gap.
Other Montgomery County municipalities also are considering pay raises for their employees. Gaithersburg’s proposed budget would freeze cost-of-living or merit-based increases, but would give all employees a one-time $2,000 stipend. Poolesville’s budget increased salaries “closer to industry standards, with a maximum cap increase of $6,000.” Takoma Park’s proposed budget also includes wage increases.
Marcuccio said Rockville’s residents could ill afford to “absorb” some of the new fees in the budget, including a new $40 storm-water fee for homeowners.
Robbins said she has heard from a number of residents who are angry with the pay raises, and predicted that the elected officials who approved them could be hurt in November’s election.
But Mayor Susan Hoffmann said the city had no reason not to live up to already agreed-upon contracts with city employees because it wasn’t facing a giant budget deficit.
“I’m not just about what looks good politically,” Hoffman said. “I’m about doing the very best I can for the city, including its reputation.”
Rockville was able to avoid a deficit this year because its budget is largely dependent on property tax revenues, which are estimated to increase slightly next year despite dropping property values. A state tax cap has allowed property owners to pay artificially low taxes when their property values soared for a number of years, but set them up for a tax increase in years when their property’s value declined.
The county has more varied revenue sources and is responsible for providing more services than municipalities.
Across the Potomac River, municipalities facing declining revenues were less generous with their employees. The city of Alexandria froze employee pay. Similar measures are included in the proposed budgets in Fairfax City, Manassas, Leesburg and Falls Church.
