A new salary ordinance is in the books for the city of Knox. The city council last night passed the 2014 salary ordinance on its third reading, adopting the ordinance that includes raises for all elected officials and salaried employees. After the first reading of the ordinance, Mayor Rick Chambers explained that a few corrections needed to be reflected in the ordinance before it was passed on its second reading, and those changes were also reflected in the third reading passed unanimously by the council last night.
Chambers said the council noted some typographical errors and addition errors. While the total amounts were correct, Chambers explained that the ordinance originally did not increase the three Board of Zoning Appeals members’ pay by three percent each; the ordinance laid out three BZA members to be paid $491 each for an annual total of $1517 – a simple addition error that Chambers said would be corrected before the next reading. The BZA members should receive $505 each, properly reflecting that three percent increase.
The council discussed how the clerk’s, city attorney’s, mayor’s and council’s salaries were to be paid, and Chambers said the city acted on a recommendation by Umbaugh and Associates to split their expenses between the city’s general fund and the funds for the waste water and water departments. He explained this was based on rate studies that had been performed a few years ago in an effort to take pressure off the general fund.
