On a night when the Redding Peace Officers Association agreed to pick up an additional 1.5 percent of their retirement contributions, the City Council voted to dole out an additional $1,500 for two of the city’s department heads.
Community Services Director Kim Niemer will make an additional $1,000 a month, bringing her salary to over $141,000 annually. The city’s finance director, Denise Maxwell, will get a raise of $500 a month to more than $129,000 a year. Despite protests from the public and two council members, the board voted 3-to-2 in favor of the proposal. Councilmember Francie Sullivan voted yes.
"I think it's well deserved, it's fair, it is the right thing to do,” she said. “It's not easy and it's not popular, but it is the right thing to do.”
But given the defeat of last week’s proposed sales tax increase, outgoing councilman Gary Cadd and Vice Mayor Brent Weaver dissented, with Cadd saying that the city can’t afford it.
"Somewhere along the line you've got to take your belt buckle, you gotta and cinch that baby up, and you gotta start acting as though you can't be giving raises all the time every time we turn around," he said.
Outgoing Mayor Missy McArthur had wanted to council to vote on the issue before her departure. She publicly congratulated Maxwell prior to her giving the quarterly financial report.