AFSCME members urge Takoma Park to keep two ARPA-funded staff positions amid wage study

Brendan Smith, president of AFSCME Local 3399, told the Takoma Park City Council that two ARPA-funded positions are critical to city operations and should not be cut. “They aren’t FTE accounts. They’re real people with names and families,” Smith said, naming the senior accounting specialist Harut Immanu and IT project specialist Lars DeSalvio as positions at risk.

Jonathan Haines, a public-works employee and Ward 4 resident, said the city’s recent compensation and reclassification study shows many employees are below market and long-tenured staff have experienced stagnant pay. “We want our employees to be paid equitably,” Haines said, urging councilors to act on the study’s recommendations rather than delay until bargaining is complete.

Other AFSCME members and city employees described the real-world consequences of compressed wages: library and public-works staff said increased workloads and public-safety responsibilities are straining under current pay levels. Patty Mallon, the city’s grant manager and an AFSCME vice president, asked councilors to consider three elements of fair compensation—market-rate adjustments, reclassification, and cost-of-living increases—while noting collective bargaining is still underway.

City staff told councilors the wage-study presentation is scheduled for the council meeting on Wednesday and acknowledged the difficult timing of negotiating unions while finalizing a budget. The council did not take a final vote on the specific positions during the work session; councilors were reminded that reconciliation items will be voted on at the next meeting.