Nixa’s City Council met Tuesday, among other items on the agenda, Council heard a presentation on next year’s budget, including personnel.
Nixa City Administrator Jimmy Liles shared an overview of results from a compensation study of the city’s employees. Liles said that study found 30 percent of employees were behind the market in pay for their positions. He said they plan to release a new pay scale for all personnel in the budget, and they hope to build a four percent increase into each step of the pay scale, if the budget will allow it. The new pay scale will also give employees at the top of their pay an annual three percent cost of living allowance.
The city also plans to add several positions in 2024, including maintenance workers, a tree trimmer and wastewater utility worker; and assistant positions in administrations, the parks department, and public works. Several personnel positions were requested but have not been funded in the budget plan thus far, including four police officers and a video producer.
Administrator Liles said, depending on sales tax revenues, they may be able to include those police officer positions in the budget, but they are waiting until the end of this fiscal quarter.
In April, Nixa voters approved a 3/4-cent general sales tax increase to fund the police department, including these new positions, but Liles said the City has not yet seen that sales tax revenue. The new sales tax was also meant to fund a new police department building, Liles said planning will start in 2024 and will also be contingent on the new revenue. The city hopes to see the first of that revenue at the end of this quarter.
During the presentation, Mayor Jarad Giddens pointed to the unfunded video producer position and emphasized the need to fund it or budget to outsource video work. Mayor Giddens said video has become an increasingly important means of communicating with constituents.
The total proposed personnel budget for 2024 is just over $15,650,000 — up 9.75 percent from approximately $14,250,000 for the current year. Nixa’s fiscal year runs January to December.