WEIRTON — Non-union employees of the City of Weirton may soon see an adjustment in their pay scale.

Members of Weirton Council, and other city officials, convened in a work session Wednesday evening to discuss a series of proposals which would see new pay ranges for city employees, and even the possibility of new job titles and duties for some.

“We’re here to talk about some of the new numbers on the salary ordinance,” explained City Manager Mike Adams.

The changes have been in the works over the last few months, with Adams and Finance Director Diana Smoljanovich gathering salary data from other cities as a comparison, with a particular focus on Fairmont and Clarksburg as they have comparative population and budget sizes to Weirton.

Smoljanovich explained, while various adjustments have been made to salary ranges over the years, not all have been done at similar times or with similar changes, giving an example of the superintendent and foreman positions in the Public Works Department making close to, or sometimes less than, lower-level positions.

“There’s no incentive to move up if you’re making less than the crew leaders,” she said.

She said positions in the Finance Department could be facing the same situation.

Smoljanovich informed council the maximum potential increase to the city’s pay and benefits, as a result of the proposed changes, would be $458,000, which already has been budgeted for the current fiscal year.

Ward 7 Councilman Chris Jonczak recalled this wasn’t the first time such discussions were held in the city, saying a consulting firm contracted under the prior city administration was supposed to have gathered much of the information to assist in calculating such pay range increases, but didn’t fulfill the obligation.

“We’ve been talking about this for years,” he said.

Several of those in attendance pointed to the loss of employees from various departments, who were able to receive better pay offers from other cities or businesses.

Public Works Director Allen Hess, for example, noted he had lost two employees to the city of Steubenville and another to Form Energy during the last year.

Ward 6 Councilman Anthony Rocchio said, while Weirton may not be able to fully compare with other communities, with several officials specifically mentioning opportunities in Pennsylvania, the proposal could make them more competitive.

“You’re never going to stop it, but you can curb it,” Rocchio said of the employees leaving for other work.

Council agreed to plan to take the proposals up in September, noting there is the potential another workshop will be held before then for additional discussions.

(Howell can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com)