Evanston’s City Council is scheduled Tuesday to approve an 8% pay hike for the city’s non-union employees.
The increase would be on top of a 3% boost the 180 non-union workers received at the start of the year.
The council has already approved new four-year contracts with the city’s four union locals retroactive to Jan. 1.
Those deals saw first-year pay hikes of 18% for police officers, 14% for police sergeants, and 11% for firefighters and other unionized employees.
City Manager Luke Stowe says the union settlements “have created a compression situation where some union employees earn as much or more than the non-union employees who supervise them.”
Stowe says the proposed increase will keep the city’s wages “competitive and equitable” for the non-union workers.
He’s also seeking approval of $50,000 to “address specific compression issues” for certain employees.
The cost of the non-union pay hikes for what’s left of this year is expected to be just under $400,000.
But they will add to the challenges of balancing the 2024 city budget. Stowe is scheduled to unveil a proposed budget for next year early next month.