Did You Get A Raise Like This? Indy’s Mayor Jacks Up Salaries In His Office By 6% To 31%. Some Get Raises of $20,000-Plus!

At a time when the budgets of Indianapolis city and county departments and agencies are being cut, and layoffs of city and county workers could occur, the office of Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard has raised salaries of his employees in the midst of a projected multi-million dollar budget deficit.  Mayor Ballard recently OK’d raises for the fifteen members of his staff by 6% to 31% on an annualized basis.  The raises began when, earlier this year, the Mayor hired Jason Kloth as Deputy Mayor for Education; a new position.  Kloth was hired at a salary of $120,000.  However, that was some $22,000 higher than the Mayor’s two existing Deputy Mayors and the Mayor’s Chief of Staff.  Last month, Ballard raised the salaries of new Chief of Staff Ryan Vaughn and Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Michael Huber and Deputy Mayor for Neighborhoods Olgen Williams to $120,000 each, matching Kloth.  But the Mayor also raised salaries of other mayoral employees by between $3,059 to $20,000.  In 2011, the total salaries for employees in the mayor’s office (other than the Mayor himself) totaled $840,989.47.  On an annualized basis this year, the Mayor’s staffs salaries now totals $1,115,885.24.  That’s a jump of 32.7%.  According to the Indianapolis Business Journal, the city is expected to unveil a 2013 budget next month with a $27 million deficit.  Cuts to Public Safety agencies are expected along with little or no growth in other city/county agencies and minimal salary increases for city/county employees.  But employees of the Mayor seem exempt from this.