The Brentwood Board of Aldermen Monday night voted down approving a comprehensive salary and benefits study of the city employees. The vote was 4-4 with Mayor Pat Kelly breaking the tie with a no vote.
Aldermen Anthony Harper, Tom Kramer, Cindy Manestar and Maureen Saunders voted yes. Lee Wynn, Keith Robertson, Patrick Toohey and Andy Leahy voted no.
It was voted on two meetings ago, at the Oct. 21 meeting, and failed with a 3-3 tie. Kelly didn’t break that tie because he said five votes are needed for a motion to pass.
One alderman, Toohey, changed his vote from a yes to a no between Oct. 21 and Nov. 18.
“Like anything else, you can have the best tool in the world, but if you don’t use it properly it’s ineffective.” He said the board would use the study for “vindictive” reasons.
Kelly, as in past meetings, referred to a 2011 study that he said has all the information they currently need. “The information is two years old, but it’s pretty close to what we need,” he said.
Kelly said Saunders thinks the city pays its employees too much.
“I don’t want to compare ourselves to other municipalities. I would prefer the other municipalities compare themselves to us,” Kelly said. “I don’t think we go overboard for our employees,” he said.
Saunders said she’d like to double what they pay, “but I still believe it is our fiduciary responsibility to make sure we’re competitive in the market, and not to be way outside the market.”
Kramer is the chairman of the ways and means committee, and said he was trying to be fiscally responsible. The committee will be working on next year’s budget at its next meeting.
“I was only prepared to make a change or contemplate an adjustment to our compensation or our benefits as a result of our compensation and benefit study, but based on this evening’s vote, that doesn’t seem to be possible at this juncture.”
After the issue failed at the Oct. 21 meeting, it was reintroduced as a new bill, with a new number, at the Nov. 4 meeting. That could happen again.