LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen voted Tuesday to give all employees a 7% hourly wage increase, retroactive to July 1, in an effort to retain and attract employees.
The money would come from federal rescue plan funds.
Town Manager Amanda Allen said the reason is to get employee wages where they need to be.
“I will not be taking a pay raise,” she said.
Selectmen previously asked Allen to do a survey of towns in the area for comparison with wages for different positions in Livermore Falls. She passed out written information to the board.
“As you can see, we are extremely below average with our pay to our employees,” she said.
She suggested a $3-an-hour increase for full-time employees and a $2-an-hour increase for part-time employees.
“I think we have a solid crew now,” she said. “I’d like to keep them happy. If we don’t they will leave,” Allen said.
Target stores are hiring at $25 an hour with no experience, she added.
Selectman William Kenniston asked what happens when the federal American Rescue Plan Act money runs out.
The town’s allotment is $333,816.46. Of that, $83,000 has been allocated for a Ford F-600 truck with a dump body and a partial payment on a new police cruiser.
If they don’t increase the wages, Chairman Jim Long said, they will fall further behind other towns when new contracts come up. He said he has been comparing information he reads in the Sun Journal and other media about different towns, contracts and wage increases.
“I think we need to do something but what should we do?” Long asked. Officials would need to build the pay adjustment into the 2023-24 budget, he said.
If they went with a $2-an-hour increase for full-time workers, Allen said, it would come to $4,160 per employee for a total increase of $62,400 a year. If it was a $3 hourly increase for full-timers, it would cost $6,240 per employee and $93,600 a year.
Selectmen worked on different pay scenarios to see what would work best. They decided on a 7% hourly increase across the board. The amount for that proposal was not given.
The board also set the property tax rate for 2022-23 at $23 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, a decrease of 20 cents from last year. Of the $97,195.52 in overlay, about $54,000 will be used to cover an unexpected increase for hydrant rentals.
Allen said she was previously told it would be a 3% increase, not 24.67%.
They had the option of setting a minimum tax rate of $22.47 and a maximum rate of $23.60.
In the Livermore Falls Water District matter, trustees will hold a public hearing on the proposed water rate increases at 6 p.m. Sept. 19 at the Town Office.
According to a legal notice sent to district customers and published Aug. 31 in the Livermore Falls Advertiser, the proposed rate increases would be: 19.60% for residential, commercial, industrial, governmental, private fire protection, and sales for resale, and 24.67% for public fire protection.
If the Maine Public Utilities Commission approves the rate increase, it would go into effect Nov. 1.
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