Struthers council reads multiple salary and personnel ordinances; debate centers on starting wages and first-year step-down

Members of the Struthers City Council opened a finance-legislation meeting to read a set of ordinances that would create or re-establish multiple part-time and full-time positions and set salaries retroactive to Jan. 1, 2025.

The agenda included seven part-time position ordinances (dispatch clerk, part-time police officers, deputy tax commissioner clerk, drivers for the elderly, part-time paid firemen, part-time laborers and seasonal street laborers) and several full-time position and salary ordinances covering elected officials, department heads, utilities, clerical roles and other municipal positions. Councilors moved to “bring them out” for consideration; motions were seconded and the items were circulated for signatures.

Discussion focused on a provision that sets some new hires’ first-year pay at 90% of the full rate. Council member Bob said he had recently hired a custodian at $13 per hour and objected to a 90% first-year reduction for clerical and some maintenance positions. “You can’t have somebody come in at $13 an hour,” he said, adding that $13 is low compared with current local market options.

Other council members defended the existing stepped approach as a way to manage a constrained municipal budget while bringing many long-underpaid positions closer to market rates. One councilor noted that four years ago the step-down had been 15% and that the council had since increased many positions; supporters said the 10% first-year reduction is not “a killer” and that new hires would receive raises after the first year plus annual increases.

Council staff agreed to prepare an Excel summary showing recent raises and five-year history for each position so members could identify positions that remain below market levels. Members suggested they could make adjustments retroactively if needed and flagged the law director and some clerical roles as positions to review.

Several ordinances on the agenda were procedural or project-specific: an amendment for Wetmore Drive bridge replacement engineering services, agreements with MS Consultants for resurfacing projects, an appropriation of $1,000 to Youngstown Class B Baseball for an outfield advertisement sign and an ordinance authorizing the tax commissioner to charge off uncollectible income tax receivables in compliance with the Ohio Revised Code and the Struthers codified income-tax chapter.

Councilors agreed to circulate the ordinance packet for signatures and to revisit pay-step language in a future meeting; no final wage changes or ordinance adoptions were recorded in the transcript of the session.