Kane County Reporter

The Batavia city council recently discussed pay increases for city employees to keep wages in line with inflation.

A discussion on the issue of pay raises for city employees took place during a Nov. 1 committee of the whole meeting. The city of Batavia monitors the price of living and inflation increases throughout the year to try and reflect them in the wages of city employees. In the past year, the consumer price index (CPI) is above 8% and an overall cost of living increase of about 4%. There were also increases in social security and some of the biggest cost increases in the last 40 years.

Because of these factors, the city is recommending a 4% increase in wage for city employees. There were only a handful of contracts to look at because it concerns non-collectively bargained employees. There were also a few position changes in the city that moved people to new pay levels based on their additional responsibilities in the past few months.

"Currently at this point we would be recommending a modest 4% cost of living increase to our wages and salaries," Batavia Director of Human Resources Wendy Bednarek said at the meeting. 

The city also proposed a small increase in the battalion chief’s holiday bonus. They don’t receive any special holiday pay so the city gives them this bonus for working on holidays. The city also voted to increase the fire department members a wage increase of 4% to match the change in the rest of the city.