ANDERSON — In the process of passing six salary ordinances at the Anderson City Council meeting on Thursday, Mayor Kris Ockomon and other elected officials declared that they would refuse their annual 2 percent raises to help the city with its budget problems.

“I will decline my raise, and I will ask others to do the same,” Ockomon said. “In the scheme of things, it’s a great message to the public that we’re trying.”

Karen Carpenter, city controller, said that she and Street Commissioner had already refused their raises. On Friday, Ockomon brought up the issue to department heads after a staff meeting.

“Basically, the ones that were present (short two or three department heads), everybody volunteered to do it,” Ockomon said.

The mayor said they were also going to request the same from assistant department heads.

The idea was brought up because nonunion employees of the city were taking a 2 percent raise for 2009, while union employees generally receive a 3 percent raise each year. Carpenter said there were 247 full-time and part-time, nonunion employees that work for Anderson.

The council requested she calculate whether the nonunion employees could receive 3 percent raises if all department heads and elected officials did not take an increase. Carpenter said she did not have those figures prepared as of Friday morning.

Ockomon said he and the department heads declined to take their raises to save the city money, and that savings could be used to supplement another percentage for nonunion workers.

Robert Jozwiak, a city resident and former independent mayoral candidate, asked the council to consider not giving raises at all.

“We are in a looming budget crisis, and we’re talking about giving people raises,” he said. “We should wait until we find out if we have enough money before we give raises.”

“Sometimes, Rick (Muir, D-at-large), you have to give up something,” Jozwiak said. “Be responsible and have some common sense. You can’t just raise people’s taxes just because you want a raise.”

Jozwiak was referring to the council’s decision to approve an increase in the countywide income tax.

The six salary ordinances — which included the city clerk’s office, the mayor’s office, the city judge, the city council, the administrative police, the administrative fire officials and other administrative employees — passed the council in a 7-2 vote, with Art Pepelea, R-District 5, and Rodney Chamberlain, D-at-large, dissenting.

Pepelea and Chamberlain said they wanted the ordinances changed to the reflect the discussion before they approved them.

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