OC Today WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.NET
OCTOBER 30, 2015
SPORTS
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS The Worcester Prep boys’ and girls’ soccer teams win ESIAC titles – Page 33
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City accepts, then goes against pay study Plan recommends holding line on some maximums, but split council votes to approve 2 percent increase By Zack Hoopes Staff Writer (Oct. 30, 2015) In the most clear-cut instance since the 2014 municipal elections, the City Council was split this week between its old and new members over the philosophical intent of employee pay raises. The council voted 4-3 during its Tuesday afternoon session to implement the new wage tables that had been recommended by the city’s comprehensive
pay and classification study, completed this past June, but then proceeded to go beyond them. The difference of opinion was not over the efficacy of the new pay brackets themselves, but rather over the 2 percent across-the-board pay raise that the city had built into its budget earlier this year. Four members of the council believed that all employees should get the raise, even those who, under the new pay brackets effective Jan 1, 2016 will be paid more then the maximum wage set for their positions. The city has 25 such employees. “A lot of them haven’t received any adjustment at all in seven or eight years,” said Councilman Dennis Dare. “Their lifestyle has eroded somewhat because
of inflation and we’re sending them a bad message.” But the three others, Wayne Hartman, Matt James and Tony DeLuca, believed if the study found those employees were earning more than the market maximum for their positions, there was no reason to worsen the situation by putting them even further above what should have been their salary caps. “To pay for a pay study, and then add to that and go beyond it defeats the point of the pay study and compounds the problems we already have,” Hartman argued. “We’re going to pay people even further above the salary range that we paid a professional to analyze ... I’m kind of perplexed as to the reason we See SALARY on Page 3
For Bloxom, it’s all over except for the sailing Former commissioner took district voting case to high court
LISA CAPITELLI/OCEAN CITY TODAY
HALLOWEEN FUN Anna Duffey paints a butterfly on Southern, Md. resident, 3-year-old Elizabeth Martin’s hand during the Ocean City Recreation and Parks Department’s annual “Halloween Spook-Out Party,” Sunday at Northside Park on 125th Street.
By Brian Gilliland Staff Writer (Oct. 30, 2015) The next meeting of the Worcester Commissioners on Nov. 3 will be the last one when Sonny Bloxom will act alone in the capacity of county attorney. He formally retires on Dec. 18. Former Wicomico County Attorney Maureen Howarth will join Bloxom on Nov. 9, to prepare to assume his duties. Bloxom will leave Worcester with his wife, Christine, for a condominium in Marathon, Fla. and his 35-foot sailboat, which will be moored about 75 feet from his back door. Bloxom has been a fixture in Worcester politics since 1990 when he was first elected to the Board of County Commissioners. BeSee LEGAL on Page 6
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