CALEDONIA — Pay raises for a number of town employees in Caledonia were upheld by the Caledonia Board of Aldermen last night, after Mayor George Gerhart’s veto failed by a 4-1 vote. Alderman Quinn Parham cast the lone vote in alliance with the mayor.
The raises, which became effective Oct. 1, included 50-cent per hour cost of living raises for water department employees Randle Flippo and Trey Robertson and Town Clerk Judy Whitcomb; a cost of living raise of $1.50 per hour to water department office manager Cathy Brown; a $1,485 per year raise to Water Superintendent Benny Coleman; a monthly salary increase from $200 to $225 for Municipal Court Judge Peggy Phillips; and a salary adjustment of $443.60 per month for Town Marshall Ben Kilgore, so he can purchase health insurance.
“The Board of Aldermen refused to recognize the mayor as being the supervisor over the department heads,” Gerhart wrote in the veto. “When the mayor does not recommend salary adjustments for department heads, the board takes action on said increases, adjustments and benefits anyway.”
He followed up by stating in the veto that because the country is in an economic recession, now was not a good time for salary increases.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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