Merit Raises for Civilian Employees Narrowly Approved by Dallas City Council

With a 9 - 6 vote results, the city of Dallas has approved merit raises for civilian employees over across the board salary hike.

Dallas city mayor Mike Rawlings was able to convince 3 council members - Jennifer Staubach Gates, Dwaine Caraway and Rick Callahan to change their vote from an across the board salary hike to a merit raise. In an unofficial straw vote held earlier, the vote results were also 9 - 6, in favor of an across the board salary hike for civilian employees.

According to Rawlings, a supporter of the merit increase, performance based increases is one way of saving money while still being able to give extra pay to the city's civilian employees. "The money is too tight. We're trying to figure out every last nickel," Rawlings said in a report by KHOU.

The city mayor also feels that it is best to reward those who have been working hard. "I just don't want to give money to those folks that are unacceptable," he told Dallas News. "I want to reward the people that have been through the pain. And I want to reward them with more than three-percent if possible," he added, in a report by CBS Local.

On the other hand, those who were in favor of an across the board salary hike contest that a merit raise was not a good way to pay back city workers who stayed during the hard times.

"It's a decade since we've had a cost-of-living increase to make adjustments for inflation, the Consumer Price Index, and all the other factors," said Scott Griggs.

Carlos Marroquin also argues that workers who are already underpaid compared to other states will all the more feel the hardships of living and working in Dallas. "Insurance is going up and pension. So their check is going to be a lot smaller this year if we are just going to rely on merit raises that a lot of times are not fair in the city," he said.

Rawlings assured the council members that a performance evaluation system will be set in place to ensure fair raises to civilian employees who deserve them.

The city of Dallas' improving economy has allowed for the city to allot an extra $4 million in revenue for salaries. According to CBS Local, the revenue won't kick in until April of next year.