Crossing Guards Get Pay Increase

School crossing guards who complained that a recent raise only amounted to 22 cents were told Monday they will now receive $1 more hourly.

The guards help children to cross streets safely before and after school.  The pay issue was on the City Council agenda Monday as a discussion item. City Administrator Rick Smiley told the council the guards had received a 1.5 percent pay raise. The rate matched settlements with all of the city's seven bargaining units late last year, covering all four years of Mayor Adrian O. Mapp's term, through 2017.

Smiley said the crossing guards will now all receive increases of $1 per hour. Nine who receive $14.30 per hour will get $15.30. Seven who receive $12.10 hourly will get $13.10. Eighteen who receive $11 hourly will get $12. Pay for four new crossing guards will remain at $11 and they will be paid retroactively to the start of school on Sept. 3, Smiley said.

Council President Bridget Rivers asked Smiley to explain to the crossing guards that the City Council did not give them 22 cents, but that the administration said it gave them 22 cents.

The crossing guards had come out in force in May under the impression they were not getting any raise, but it was pointed out that they were included in a salary ordinance affecting seasonal, hourly and temporary workers that was on that night's agenda.

The new formula works out to increases of from 7 to 9 percent, though given the crossing guards' limited work hours, it will have only a minuscule effect on the city budget. The total salary and wage line for school crossing guards in 2014 was $215,000.

--Bernice