KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon announced Friday she wants to boost city employee pay in her upcoming budget, including setting a minimum $15-an-hour wage for all workers.
Kincannon said employees deserve it, and just as important, it's been tough to fill some city positions for numerous reasons including the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit around 2 years ago.
"With labor shortages, depleted staff numbers, absences from COVID and inflation, some services have been in jeopardy," she said. "Our compensation is not keeping up."
Better pay will help ensure the city can offer fast and responsive services to residents, she said.
The mayor said she'll pitch several ways to boost compensation in her annual budget plan, which Knoxville City Council must approve. If adopted, the changes would take effect July 1.
It's not clear yet what the cost would be for such increases. The mayor said she planned March 3 to discuss her plan with the council at a workshop.
"We now know the data shows that city salaries are on average 10 percent below market," she said. "That's unacceptable. It's demoralizing to our employees."
Under her proposal, all employees would get a 6 percent across-the-board salary increase to account for recent sharp hikes in the cost of living.
She also would boost salary ranges for all departments "to better match market comparisons and to address compression."
Kincannon also envisions an annual "step" pay plan for police and fire personnel.
Lastly, according to Friday's announcement, there'd be a one-time "gap" compensation adjustment payment for current employees working through the end of the current fiscal year.
"It's demoralizing when you have to do so much training and have so much education to come to the fire department and we're risking our lives for less pay," Knoxville Fire Department employee representative Larry McAfee said. "[This plan] is a big help toward morale and when morale is high, we can retain employees."
The city of Knoxville is experiencing, like thousands of employers across the country, an employee shortage and large demographic departures from the employment ranks. Some people are aging out; others just are turning away.
The coronavirus proved an additional trigger to spur some in the labor force to leave -- in all kinds of employment.
According to the city's announcement, it is down nearly 150 positions.
"That’s translating into longer response times and fewer hands to do the critical work of protecting public health and safety," the city noted.
Dozens of employees also could retire, costing the city valuable institutional knowledge, Kincannon said.
"Not only do we risk losing institutional knowledge that you can’t put a price tag on, but there is also a real monetary cost to taxpayers every time we have to train someone. We are talking tens of thousands of dollars every time we train a new police officer or firefighter. That is an investment we can’t afford to keep losing," she said.
A recent compensation study shows Knoxville is paying its workers 10% below the market average, according to the city.
"This should help a lot with retention and recruitment. We've lost a lot of folks," Knoxville Police Department violent crimes investigation Jason Booker said. "More police presence and more fire apparatus will make the community safer."
