DATE: Wednesday, October 15, 1997           TAG: 9710150490

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   65 lines

RAISE FOR RETIREES DIVIDES NORFOLK COUNCIL THE CITY IS TRYING TO RESOLVE THE ISSUE AFTER A ONE-YEAR RAISE RAN OUT IN JULY.

A proposed cost-of-living increase for about 2,200 of the city's retirees on Tuesday left City Council members sharply divided and the retirees upset.

The issue has been simmering since July, when retirees learned that a 3 percent retirement pay supplement granted last year was being eliminated. Retirees were outraged, but city officials contend that the raise was intended as a one-year ``bonus.'' A resolution approved at the time states that the bonus was for one year only.

Retirees, however, said that message was never communicated to them, and they wanted the 3 percent restored and made permanent.

Since then, council members have been trying to agree on whether to restore all or some of the pay.

On Tuesday, after contentious debate, the council voted 4-3 to provide the retirees with a 2 percent cost-of-living raise that would take effect in January and become permanent with the fiscal 1998-99 budget that begins July 1.

It would cost the city about $170,000 for the final six months of this fiscal year, and about $336,000 a year after that. A 3 percent raise would cost about $509,000 a year, officials said.

The vote for a 2 percent raise came after the council defeated a motion by the same 4-3 vote to restore the 3 percent raise.

About 80 retirees packed the council's meeting room. They murmured in disapproval after the vote for a 2 percent raise.

``I was stunned, to be frank,'' James T. Reid, president of the city's retired employees association, said.

Some of the retirees, including some longtime employees, receive less than $500 a month in retirement payments from the city.

Under council rules, the 4-3 vote will require that the council vote a second time before the measure takes effect. To become effective on first vote, a measure must receive at least five votes. Reid said the retirees hope to lobby council members for a 3 percent raise before the next vote.

Council members W. Randy Wright, Vice Mayor Herbert M. Collins Sr. and Paul R. Riddick voted in favor of the 3 percent raise. Council members Daun S. Hester, Mason C. Andrews, G. Conoly Phillips and Mayor Paul D. Fraim voted for the 2 percent raise.

Fraim and other council members who favored the 2 percent raise said the city couldn't afford to offer any more. Fraim said the money had not been included in this year's budget and that ``we're going to have to hunt around to try to find'' it.

``It's the best we think we can do at this moment in time,'' Fraim said. ``It keeps our faith with the retirees.''

Wright, Collins and Riddick, however, said that the city never clearly communicated to retirees that the 3 percent supplement was a one-year deal and said that it should be restored.

``I believe a commitment was made and ought to be kept,'' Wright said.

Collins said his ``real concern and disappointment'' about the issue is that the city always seems to find money for pet projects.

Later in the meeting, in an example that Riddick said illustrated Collins' concern, the council voted 6-1 to add another $344,684 to fund the widening of Boush Street downtown as part of $2.2 million in residential improvements slated for Freemason Harbor.

``We can find millions of dollars for outsiders, but for people who have given us 30-plus years of service and in some cases put their lives on the line . . . we can't give them a decent retirement,'' said Riddick, who cast the lone vote against the Boush Street money.

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