October 5, 2013

City of Blytheville employees' total earnings were up about $1 million in 2012 compared to what they were in 2010. According to financial records released through an Arkansas Freedom of Information Act request, city employees earned $6,353,509.95 in 2012, while the figure was $5,300,018.22 in 2010...

EDITOR'S NOTE: After this story was originally published, the city of Blytheville produced new data, calling this report into question. That story is here.

City of Blytheville employees' total earnings were up about $1 million in 2012 compared to what they were in 2010.

According to financial records released through an Arkansas Freedom of Information Act request, city employees earned $6,353,509.95 in 2012, while the figure was $5,300,018.22 in 2010.

In 2011, city employees earned $5,867,193.43, about $500,000 less than they did last year.

Through Sept. 25, city workers have earned $5,017,840.55 this year. If that pace continues in the final quarter, the city employees will earn about $6.69 million in 2013.

What's the reason for the spike?

"Don' know," Blytheville Mayor James Sanders said Friday. "I haven't looked at the numbers as you presented them to me just yet. I'd have to look at those numbers to be able to give you a definitive answer."

According to figures compiled from the Employee Pay Register, overtime was down in 2012, decreasing from $342,966.88 in 2011 and $493,023.91 in 2010 to $337,929.67 last year.

Still, Sanders believes overtime has affected the city budget, particularly in the police department and fire department, which spent $123,103.90 and $89,486.47, respectively, in overtime because they are undermanned.

"What we've seen here, even in the Police Department, because of the number of officers, even (Police Chief) Ross (Thompson) has talked about, we're having to pay the officers overtime," Sanders said. "It would be at our advantage, we're testing, we're trying to do these types of things. But there are reasons that people are not applying for different positions. Right now, we're trying to defeat a thought that people have about us that we're going into a hiring freeze.

"Those type of negative things that are out there are not allowing us to progress in the areas we would like to. If we were able to hire the folks that we need to, in those positions, then it would be a less strain on our officers who have worked hard in doing what they do. The same thing with our firemen. Our firemen are having to work hard, in some instances, pull double duty. It bothers me because they're away from their families and I know about that because I've had to do it. We would love to bring up our numbers and to see those numbers and we're headed in that direction. It's all about fixing our city, fixing our revenues and trying to do those types of things. I think those numbers will go up."

Last month, the Blytheville City Council tabled a proposal from the Finance and Purchasing Committee to implement a city hiring freeze.

Councilman Tommy Abbott, chairman of the Finance Committee, was concerned the measure is too restrictive.

"We have to make some allowances for security people -- police, fire -- and also for licensed people," he added. "If we lose some of those, we're going to have to replace them."

As for the numbers, there were 302 part-time and full-time employees paid by the city of Blytheville in 2012 and 305 thus far this year. There were 36 employees making $40,000 or more in 2012, compared to 43 in 2010 and 33 in 2011.

In October 2012, there were 196 full-time employees and 10 elected officials, while in July 2013 there were 192 full-time employees and 10 elected officials.

The chart below shows City of Blytheville employees who earned more than $40,000 in 2012.

Mike Bearden, City Atty $69,060

James Sanders, Mayor 65,986

Marvin Crawford, PW 63,270

Mike Carney, FD Chief 56,728

David Copeland, Wastewater 49,384

Ross Thompson, PD Chief 49,102

Ricky Jefferson, PD 48,398

Joseph Manrique, FD 48,365

William Travis, Collector 48,277

Randal Woolsey, FD 47,597

Jeff Camp, FD 47,191

Billy Hancock, PD 45,714

Scott Edwards, FD 45,174

Gary Carr, Wastewater 44,296

Paul Brown, FD 44,201

Brian Grisham, FD 43,805

Scott Adams, PD 44,609

Stephen Sigman, PD 43,785

Kenneth Ellis , Wastewater 43,692

James Yankee, Wastewater 43,443

Charles Middlebrook, PD 42,625

Jason Taylor, FD 42,527

Nick Nelson, PD 42,467

Gary Phillips, BWW 41,893

Kyle Lively, PD 41,644

Daniel Holifield, FD 41,508

Judy Andrews, Gen. Admin. 41,380

LaVera Kuykendall, Finance 41,280

Tony Emmert, FD 41,218

Leslie Hester, Museum 41,203

Chris Sims, FD 40,937

Ronnie Duncan , FD 40,859

Teri Looney, PD 40,776

Ricky Crawford, FD 40,774

Francis Lewis, FD 40,506

Jeremy Ward , PD 40,181

Note: Most of the police and fire earnings listed include substantial overtime hours.

mbrasfield@blythevillecourier.com

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