(Michigan City, IN) - Pay increases for city employees in Michigan City are still awaiting final approval.

 

Approval was granted on October 19 by the Michigan City Common Council with a 6-3 vote. However, Mayor Duane Parry has until Friday to accept or deny the pay hikes under local measures giving him ten days to act following the council’s decision. If Parry rejects the pay hikes, they could still be adopted if the city council vetoes the mayor.

 

City employees would collect roughly $3,000 to $4,000 more in pay. The city council cut what the mayor proposed for himself and his department heads under a wage study. As a result, the mayor’s salary would increase by about $600 annually to $80,000.

 

He proposed a $118,000 annual salary but later told the council not to give him a raise and use those dollars on raises for other individuals. The mayor also proposed doubling the wages of each city council person to $25,000. Again, however, the city council decided not to give itself a raise.

 

Councilman Paul Pryzbylinski said the higher wages proposed by the mayor were based on the earnings of municipal employees in surrounding communities that have more property tax dollars to spend.

 

“This isn’t Merrillville. This is not Crown Point. A lot of people want to compare us to South Bend or they want to compare us to Elkhart. It’s hard to do that because you don’t have the money because you’re assessed value is lower,” Pryzbylinski said.

The police chief was also given a higher raise than the fire chief, which upset firefighters and other fire department supporters.

 

So far, no light has been shed on what the mayor’s decision is going to be.