Cheyenne Mayor Explains Proposed Employee Raises

Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr wants people to understand that she is not proposing across the board pay increases for Cheyenne city employees.

The raises are part of a budget proposal for fiscal year 2018, which starts on July 1.

The mayor, on KGAB AM radio last week, said part of her proposal is to bring the roughly five percent of city employees who are being paid far below fair market value more in line with what city employees in other communities in the region are making for doing the same jobs.

The mayor's proposal would call for raises for other city employees to be awarded on the basis of merit, She said employees who are not performing up to expectations will get no raises at all.

For those who are meeting expectations, which the mayor said, "is not a bad thing, you are coming in, you are doing your job, we are looking at two percent raises."

The mayor went on to say that truly exceptional "rock star" employees, would be in line for a three percent raise under her proposal. The city council must approve the final version of the budget by the end of June.