In a unanimous vote Monday, the Henderson City Council approved a pay increase for all city employees, tacking on close to a 20 percent increase in payroll costs in the city’s budget. The increase will be retroactive to sync with the pay increase given to police and fire department employees.
City Manager Terrell Blackmon said the move adds about $1.8 million on the expense side – payroll expenses and the cost of the study – but the city’s expected revenues should be about $2.5 million, so “we can accommodate the total impact,” he told council members during their regular monthly meeting.
Back on Aug. 19, the city council approved a pay increase for police and fire department employees – to the tune of just more than $900,000 – out of “urgency,” Blackmon said in remarks during the meeting. At that August meeting, it was stated that the results of the pay study for all employees would be considered at the Sept. 9 meeting.
Blackmon said the pay study reviewed 70 different job positions for the 2023-24 fiscal year which resulted in recommendations for an updated classification and grading scale.
Salary increases have been a part of the city’s strategic plan for a couple of years, he said, citing the need to be competitive with surrounding areas and attract and retain employees.
The local tax base hasn’t grown much in the last decade, but Blackmon said anticipated growth is on the horizon.
“There’s expected growth here in the community,” he said, noting that there are close to 2,000 housing units underway and more on the way in the first quarter of 2025.
Council Member Michael Venable made the motion to approve the pay increase, which was seconded by Council Member Tami Walker. Council Members Garry Daeke and Sara Coffey were not present at the meeting.
The Council also voted to approve a unified development ordinance that essentially updates zoning and land-use regulations that have been in place – unchanged – for more than 40 years.
Information in the agenda packet prepared for the meeting stated, “Over the past 12 months the Development Services Department staff, Insight Planning Consultants, and the Planning Board have been working on land use regulations of the zoning and subdivision ordinances that have not been comprehensively updated and re-written since the 1970’s. The proposed Unified Development Ordinance combines best practices for zoning and subdivision regulations, along with other desired City codes such as design guidelines, sign regulations, floodplain and stormwater management, into one document.”
The updated ordinance includes a revised table of uses, mixed-use district, regulation removal of redundancy zoning districts, new regulation to assist in affordable housing creation and other technical planning practices.
The city contracted with Insight Planning to craft the UDO and comprehensive plan that was adopted in July 2022 for $99,000.
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