Mayor George C. Brown addresses concerns over salary increases in his proposed budget for 2024 during Thursday night’s joint combined session and budget hearing. According to Brown, the raises for city employees reflected in the budget are mandated under contracts with various bargaining units.
Hannah Simerson | Times Leader
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WILKES-BARRE — In a joint combined session and budget hearing on Thursday, city officials heard a variety of concerns about Mayor George Brown’s 2024 proposed budget.
Wilkes-Barre resident Sam Troy brought several issues to council’s attention, including the $54.2 million budget’s allocation of raises for nearly every city employee.
“I think this budget represents a miscarriage of justice because of the proposed salary increases,” Troy said.
“I’m grateful that there are no property taxes or fee increases, but by the same token, there a lot of people in our city who are struggling to make ends meet and I don’t think it’s ethical to propose these increases,” he added.
Brown’s spending plan sees a 4.7% increase in overall city salaries, rising to $21,949,133 from the $20,957,951 allocated for 2023’s budget.
Among the proposed salary increases would be one for Mayor Brown, who started out his term in 2020 by taking a $22,000 pay cut down to $60,000 from the $84,050 he could take.
Last year, Brown was approved for a $10,000 pay increase and, in this year’s proposed budget, he will see this same increase once again, bringing him to $80,000 annually.
According to Brown, the employee increases are mandated under contracts with the various bargaining units.
“You can’t not give people raises when it’s in a contract,” Brown said. “They’re part of a collective bargaining agreement between the administration and the city and the four unions.”
As far as his own salary goes, Brown says the difference in this increase is fractional compared to what he could have taken over the past four years as Mayor.
“I have not taken $203,400 in salary and benefits that is allotted to me as the Mayor of the City of Wilkes-Barre,” Brown said.
“So if you’re upset that I gave myself a $10,000 raise, I could have taken a lot more than that and I did not,” he added.
Revenue increases
Troy also drew attention to sections of the proposed budget that cited an increase in revenue that he feared would not materialize, pointing specifically to penalties and interest on delinquent taxes and mercantile business taxes.
“I think the city is going to find itself on the cusp of another fiscal crisis if some of these things on the revenue side of it don’t come through,” Troy said.
Councilman Bill Barrett rose to defend the budget’s anticipated revenues.
“I know just from our experience that these numbers that are in here are not numbers that are just pulled out of the sky,” Barrett said.
“They’re based on empirical data, research and past budget numbers that have been realistic. I believe that these numbers are realistic and I have faith in our administration and our finance team that put this together.”
Troy went on to question an influx of funding from the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority, which was risen to $325,000 from the allocated $277,000 in 2023.
“I thought the city pays the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority, so what is this and why has it gone up?,” Troy asked.
City Administrator Charlie McCormick clarified the revenue, noting that the funds are actually a reimbursement to the city for work done to benefit the authority.
“We put the money out first and then they reimburse us for projects that we have performed that assist them in water infrastructure work,” McCormick said.
To save on the proposed budget, Wilkes-Barre resident Bob Kadluboski suggested cutting out the $62,000 allotted for health care for city council members.
“Let’s do away with the health care for the next four years and that’s almost a quarter of a million dollars right there.”
Council voted unanimously to adopt the first reading of the proposed spending plan, which must be read once more before it is officially adopted.
Agenda items
Also during Thursday’s session, council approved the transfer of a parcel of land on Plymouth Avenue for just $1.
Bernard Healy purchased the land in the late ’70s with the intention to build a house. Now, Healy has placed his property for sale and a title search by a potential buyer found that half of the house is built on a lot owned by the city due to a property transfer error.
“This is merely a clerical error that happened decades ago that needs to be cleaned up so the Healys can move forward with the sale of their property,” City Attorney Tim Henry said.
Brown pulled the reaming agenda item to authorize city officials to transfer the lots located at 38-46 Carey Ave. to the Wyoming Valley Habitat for Humanity for $1 with the intention of resubmitting it at a later date.