SALEM — Discussions surrounding a proposed update the city’s compensatory time policy are set to continue at the committee level.

During city council’s meeting Monday Councilman Andrew Null, who also chairs the Finance Committee, announced that the finance committee would meet 6 p.m. March 25 to discuss the recent proposal to enroll in delinquent tax collection through the Regional Income Tax Agency, and the proposed edit to the city policy for accruing compensatory time. Null also said that he would not be introducing the ordinance that would implement that change for its second reading nor would nor would he be introducing a new resolution which would extend the proposed change to city employees represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local #2701.

Under the city’s current policy, the city’s non-represented employees can carry over 160 hours of compensatory time into the new year, and anything beyond that is paid out in December. If approved the ordinance, which was first discussed in council’s March 4 meeting, would permit the city’s unrepresented employees to accrue compensatory time beyond the current cap throughout the year and any of that excess time that was not used before the next deadline paid out as normal.

In that meeting Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey explained that the current policy causes some city employees to hit the cap early in the year, meaning subsequently accrued hours are paid out as soon as they are earned rather than being available for employees to use for time off later in the year.

“What happens now is that it is paid out after a certain limit in that first pay of December and you can only carry over 160 hours if you’re a non-bargaining employee. Some of our workers when there’s snow or big projects in the first part of the year, they may carry over the max 160 hours but the minute they get another one payroll was paying it out because they were over the limit,” said Dickey.

Dickey argued that the change would not cost the city anything more than it is already paying and would benefit the city as it would allow that money to remain in the city’s account longer. Dickey also said that when she was a member of city council it had been intended to implement the proposed update but that through some oversight the change had never been officially made. She also

“The discussion we had previously was not to do that, it was to allow them carry over the 160 and start accumulating it for the next year and by the end of the next year in that first period of December anything hadn’t used would get paid out if they desired or they could have used it for time off during the year,” said Dickey. “For instance, in our street department a lot of those employees, if they’d had a big snow in February would have lost that time and not been able to take it during the nice weather and we didn’t want to do that to them, that doesn’t benefit anybody. We want to let them use that time when they have time to take not during a snow emergency.”

City councill will meet next at 7 p.m. April 1.

mahart@mojonews.com