City Manager Debra Campbell, who was hired in 2018, said worker raises were important for morale that was badly damaged when a prior compensation study was not fully implemented, leading to pay increases for some, but not others.
"The greatest issue that I heard from every employee that I met with was around pay, and it was around the fact that a compensation study had been done several years ago and wasn't fully implemented," she said. "It created such a huge morale issue."
Staff and council members supporting a pay increase noted $1.6 million would come from police salaries that will not be paid because of the large amount of attrition in the department.