Some of Jackson’s lowest paid, but hardest working employees could soon be getting a pay raise.
Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba’s administration is working on plans to give public works front line workers a salary increase as part of the 2018 fiscal year budget.
The administration was working on the budget at press time, and it was not known exactly how much the raise would be.
But according to acting Chief Administrative Officer Robert Blaine, the plan would include modifying the city’s step pay scale to increase pay for current workers and to offer higher pay to new hires.
“It will allow us to compete for front-line workers where we’ve had a high level of turnover,” he said. “All of this is a recommendation. It will have to be approved by the council.”
Jackson’s Department of Public Works has been hemorrhaging front-line workers - those who fill potholes and repair broken water and sewer mains - for years.
The city ended fiscal year 2016 with 157 employees in the department, nearly 240 staffers fewer than the previous year.
The department has fewer workers than cities of similar size, like Mobile. It also has fewer workers per person than the cities of Meridian and Hattiesburg, which are smaller Mississippi towns, but have similar demographics.
Meridian and Hattiesburg had 160 and 200 public works employees respectively. Mobile ended the 2016 year with 423 employees in the department, according to that municipality’s 2016 audit.
Ward Two Councilman Melvin Priester blamed the decline to low pay and Furlough Fridays.
Ward Four Councilman De’Keither Stamps said employees were being poached from worksites by contractors who could offer them more money working in the private sector.
“We’re not able to fill positions because we don’t offer competitive wages for very hard work,” Priester said. “It’s not just about paying more, but changing the pay structure.”
Lumumba’s proposal would remove the two lowest step levels and bring all work crew employees up to the third step.
The new mayor has also pledged to end furlough days during the next budget cycle.
Under the furlough program, almost all city employees lose one day of pay each month.
Public works laborers are among the lowest paid in the city, but have some of the toughest duties. The workers are on call 24-7 and are responsible for, among other things, repairing broken water and sewer lines and filling potholes. Crew members work in all conditions – hot, cold, wet and dry.
According to a 2016 open records request, that of the department’s then 143 maintenance workers, 83 made less than $21,000 a year, or about $10.10 an hour.
The median salary for public works laborers is $15.34 an hour, or around $31,907 a year, according to payscale.com.
Jackson had 169,148 residents in 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Web site. The population is 18.4 percent white and 79.4 percent black, with Hispanics and other minorities making up the rest.
Mobile’s population in 2016 was 192,900, census figures show, of which 50.6 percent were African-American and 45 percent white.
Both cities have seen significant declines in populations since 2000. Mobile’s has dropped by about 11,000 people, or five percent, while Jackson’s has fallen off by more than 18,000, or nearly 10 percent.
Meridian has a population of 39,113, about five percent fewer than in 2000. The population is 61.6 percent black and 35.7 white.
Hattiesburg population has grown by about 2,200 people since 2000, bringing its total number of residents to 46,926.
Demographically, Hattiesburg’s populace is 40.4 percent white, 52.7 percent African-American and 3.2 percent Hispanic, census figures show.
Based on population, Jackson has one public works employee for every 1,077 people; Hattiesburg has one employee for every 234 people; Meridian has one for every 244 residents; and Mobile has one worker for every 456 people in its corporate limits.
For fiscal year 2017, Jackson set aside $50.5 million, or roughly 18 percent, of its $279.6 million operations budget for the department. Mobile allocated 17.8 percent of its $234.6 million operating budget for public services; Meridian allocated 20.78 percent, or $7.8 million of its $37.5 million annual operating budget; and Hattiesburg allocated 20.57 percent, or $10.8 million of its $52 million budget.
Spending in the department remains strong, despite the fact that fewer dollars are going to employees. Recently, the city council approved amending the department’s budget to use $292,000 in funds set aside for salaries as the final payment for utility relocation on the Fortification Street project.
And before that, the council hired Southern Consultants for $129,000 to assist with the East Northside Drive repaving project. Among duties, Southern will assess the pavement, map out manholes along the path of construction and evaluate sidewalk conditions. That work normally would be done in house, according to city officials.
