About 150 non-unionized staff with the City of Red Deer will have to wait until July 1 for a 1.25 per cent cost of living salary increase.
Staff include directors, managers, superintendents, supervisors, professionals and specialists.
On Tuesday, city council approved the increase which also means that a salary freeze is in effect for those staff from January and June 2017.
Kristy Svoboda, the city’s human resources director, said council typically addresses non-unionized staff salaries at this time of year.
Last year those staff also had a salary freeze for the first six months of the year and received a 1.5 per cent increase in July.
She said council is cautiously optimistic that the economy is starting to pull out of its slump. Many unionized city staff received a salary increase this year and council does not want to see management fall behind.
“This 1.25 per cent increase balances the need to continue attracting and retaining qualified management staff while acknowledging our current economic reality,” Svoboda said.
During January budget deliberations, city council determined that the city manager and council would not receive a 2017 cost of living increase.