By DAVE SCHULTZ
Increasing the pay for its dispatchers and the search for a rate reduction to city utility customers led the agenda for the Bluffton Board of Public Works and Safety Tuesday afternoon.
Police Chief Kyle Randall brought several forms for changes in dispatcher compensation, bringing them in line with a recent recommendation that followed a salary study for city employees.
The plan, Randall said, was to raise the pay of employees at the bottom end of the salary scale (new hires) $2 per hour and the salaries of employees at the top end of the salary scale $1 an hour.
“All of these coincide with ordinance amendments of a couple of weeks ago,” Randall told the council.
Also Tuesday, the Board of Works members — Mayor John Whicker, Scott Mentzer, and Roger Thornton — considered a matter that Whicker brought up for discussion: City residents will see a 1.4 percent reduction in their utility bills.
The reduction is supposed to go into effect July 1, but it will require the city to redo its rate ordinance because the state has repealed the utility receipts tax. That tax, which flows into the city’s general fund, was repealed by the Indiana General Assembly during its 2022 session.
Since the utility receipts tax is imbedded in the utility rates, the reduction in those will await the passage of an rate ordinance amendment by the Bluffton Common Council.
Thornton also noted that he had received a quote of $50,000 from Elevatus Architecture to redesign the HVAC system in the Police-Fire Building, which currently has no access to fresh air. No action was taken on that issue Tuesday.
daves@news-banner.com
