Come next year, Greenwood will have at least two dozen new employees, including more police officers, firefighters and parks employees, and more recreational amenities, and those who serve on numerous city boards will receive significant raises for the first time in years.
The city council on Monday approved Mayor Mark Myers’s 2020 budget by a vote of 8-1. Council member Bruce Armstrong voted against the $38.6 million spending plan for next year.
The city will add six full-time firefighters and four full-time police officers, which is the most the department can support considering planned retirements and its training capacity, said Greg Wright, city controller.
The additional full-time firefighter positions will replace part-time positions, and bring the total number of full-time firefighters to 58, up from 52, according to city documents. It’s exactly what Chief Darin Hoggatt asked for, he said.
More than 37 percent of the city’s total operating budget will go toward public safety, which is down slightly from this year’s 38 percent.
City leaders will also add two new street laborers, a field officer in the probation department and four new parks department mowers, one of which will be full time, and give all full-time city staff a 2 percent cost-of-living increase, down from the 5 percent most staff received this year.
The city’s legal department recently added an assistant city attorney position, which gives that department one of the largest increases overall at nearly 14 percent, city documents show.
The city’s Parks and Recreation Department is on track to get the biggest financial boost as the city puts more money into new facilities and the people needed to staff them, including renovating a house it will rent out for events such as wedding receptions, and adding at least four full-time jobs, including an assistant director who will make upwards of $70,000 a year. The department’s staff will grow by nearly 27 percent, and it will receive a 15 percent increase in overall spending.
The department wants to add several new positions, including four full-time employees, bringing its number of full-time staff to 19, according to city documents. Also included in the department’s budget is an additional full-time administrative assistant, grounds supervisor, fieldhouse assistant and three additional seasonal grounds workers, city documents said.
Many of the staff changes are due to several new facilities that are either in design or under construction, including the addition of the fieldhouse, a new ball park on Worthsville Road and Hampton Hall, said Rob Taggart, parks and recreation director.
Overall, city staff will grow to 299 from 277, according to initial estimates.
And members of most city boards will receive 50 percent or $50 per meeting — whichever is less — pay hikes, including those who serve on the redevelopment commission, economic development commission, planning commission, board of zoning appeals, police merit board and fire merit board.
