Plainsboro’s top administrators and members of the Township Committee will see a 3.5 percent salary increase under an ordinance that was approved on August 12.
The ordinance increases the annual pay range for non-union township personnel by 3.5 percent. The wage ranges for various township employees, including for the township administrator, director of planning and zoning, chief financial officer, recreation director, tax collector, director of code enforcement/construction official, and the executive assistant to the mayor, among many others, are included in the ordinance.
The salary ranges for part-time non-union employees, including the mayor and Township Committee, are also increasing.
Plainsboro officials said the ordinance increases the minimum and maximum in the salary ranges listed for each non-union township position by about 3.5 percent, and increases individual salaries by a few percent, although those numbers were not yet available. But those individual salaries were also going to increase by around 3.5 percent each, officials said.
The salary and salary range increases were appropriated for in this year’s budget. Mayor Peter Cantu has said the increases are consistent with settlements recently achieved with union contracts, the negotiation process for which began before the economy began slowing down.
Township Administrator Robert Sheehan has also said that all of the salary increases that the township is having right now are in the context of also receiving concessions on health benefits. In some cases, the cost of living was somewhat elevated in concession for substantial decreases in health care costs, he said.
Meanwhile, the Township Committee ratified collective bargaining agreements with two of its unions — the Teamsters for the Department of Public Works, and the Teamsters for the dispatchers — and subsequently introduced an ordinance putting into place the new salaries determined as a result of those settlements.
Under the terms of the settlements, employees with the Department of Public Works will received a 3.5 percent increase in 2007; an increase of 3.25 percent for 2008; and an increase of 3.25 percent for 2009. Also in 2009, similar to what the township has done with other collective bargaining units, the two unions have agreed to give up access to the more expensive of the township’s two health plans.
In compensation for the unions’ agreement to give up the access to the more expensive plan — which Sheehan says has cost the township hundreds of dollars a month more for each employee than the second healthcare plan — the unit will get an additional .75 percent increase for 2009. In 2010, the employees will see 4 percent raises. “Those two are our concessions for giving up our healthcare plan,” Sheehan says of the 4 percent raise. “We will get savings there not only in the next two years, but beyond.”
The dispatchers union has agreed to almost the same terms, with the exception that the dispatchers also needed to settle the 2006 year, for which they received a 3.5 percent increase, Sheehan said. Like the Department of Public Works employees, they will also give up the healthcare plan and receive the same scheduled pay percentage increases, he said. “These insurance costs continue to be a challenge — a significant challenge for our budget,” said Sheehan. “We are continuing to look at various ways we can decrease our health insurance costs.”
The two salary ordinances for union employees were introduced at the August 12 meeting. A public hearing and vote is scheduled for Wednesday, September 9.
Other Business. A bond ordinance that covers various general improvements was also approved on August 12.
About $3 million of the $4.054 million in projects called for in the ordinance will be spent on road improvements and renovations to the existing library once the new library opens. Other projects include smaller park improvements, the next phase of the bike path, replacement of the police in-car video systems, purchase of a new truck for the Public Works department, and the purchase of a new Voice Over IP system for the township building.
The township will issue $3.444 million in bonds to cover the costs and will make a down payment of $181,275, and use a $421,000 grant.
