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MONDAY, MAY 24, 1999 117 <br />employees he had found that most were starting new careers with skills that they had gained with the City, <br />and that the better trained people are the more competitive they are in the job market. Council Member <br />Haskell asked if the same benchmarked positions used in the current market survey would be used in the <br />future, and Mrs. Read replied that these benchmarks would be adjusted as needed. Mayor Crabtree then <br />asked to review information in the report presented having to do with the compensation improvements <br />proposed for employees in the coming year. Mr. Bartlett provided this review and stated that the budget as <br />proposed would provide an average salary increase for employees of 2.95%, with use of a formula wherein <br />the lowest increase would be not less than 2.5% and the highest would be not more than 3.16%. He <br />emphasized that no additional funds beyond those budgeted would be needed to accomplish these increases. <br />In response to an earlier suggestion by Council Member Dallas to provide all employees with a 3.5% <br />increase Mr. Bartlett stated that there would need to be approximately $60,000 more provided to accomplish <br />such an increase. He stated that the proposed increase of 2.95% would cost about $140,000, and a 3.50% <br />increase would cost about $200,000. <br /> <br /> The last item for discussion on the Agenda was a new retirement option that had been made available <br />by the Virginia Retirement System. Mr. Reynolds explained that certain classes of employees, specifically <br />school teachers and certain education administration employees, were automatically included in the plan by <br />State mandate, which provided for full retirement benefits at age fifty with a minimum of thirty years of <br />service. He further stated that all other school system and municipal employees would automatically be <br />included in this plan unless Council opted out of the provision for them. Mr. Reynolds then recommended <br />that the Council choose not to commit to this optional program for the balance of employees not mandatorily <br />covered, stating that inclusion of these employees had the potential to increase the City' s retirement costs <br />considerably. Mr. Bartlett stated that Council could expect to see increases in Virginia Retirement System <br />costs, as well as rapid rises in health care and retirement costs, and that once opted in the City could not <br />withdraw from the 30/50 plan. Council Member Roop asked what class of employees would be <br /> <br /> <br />