All city of St. Joseph employees will get a 4 percent raise this year, as the city administration couldn’t agree on focusing the money toward certain “underpaid” jobs.

Both union and non-union employee representatives agreed in interviews that 4 percent is a good raise, but this is yet another year that the City Council failed to make any steps toward getting overall pay in line with other public-sector jobs.

The council did make a solid commitment in Thursday’s meeting to come up with a plan and money to fix the underpaid jobs, compared with other cities. A major part of that plan is a possible public safety tax.

Thursday’s decision will prolong months of meetings, memos, surveys, politics, union lobbying and overall tension among different employee groups.

Mayor Ken Shearin tried to put things in perspective for the government employees, given the soaring health insurance costs and disappearance of retirement pensions that have greatly undercut private workers’ raises.

“You can rest assured that if an employee was going to quit because they didn’t get a raise, 110 people would apply for the job, because it’s been proven,” Mr. Shearin said. “The city’s a great place to work. The city takes great care of its employees. The city’s got benefits that other places in this country don’t get.”

Mr. Shearin, along with council members Mike Hirter, Joyce Starr, Donna Jean Boyer, Gary Roach supported the 4 percent raise, along with City Manager Vince Capell, who didn’t attend Thursday’s meeting.

The alternative would’ve cost roughly the same, with raises of up to 5 percent for salaries that lag behind other cities, but only 1 percent or 2 percent raises for salaries that compare well to other cities. Roger Baker, Barbara LaBass, Mike Bozarth and Bill Falkner supported variations of that plan.

Other budget highlights include the following:

City employees for the first time will pay to keep their same health insurance plans, saving the city up to $312,000. Employees traditionally have had free health insurance (although they must pay the entire cost for any family members). Now they have the option of paying $38.60 a month for their same health plan, or they can opt for lesser coverage and continue paying nothing.

The Animal Control & Rescue shelter will get a new employee and an expansion. After Ms. LaBass voiced concerns about some dogs and cats being euthanized too quickly, the shelter proposed the $139,000 expansion.

A new animal health educator/animal control officer will cost the city a total of $46,000 a year (the salary itself will be $27,794). Aside from general outreach, the city has discussed charging court offenders to attend a class, plus making the class available to regular pet owners for a fee. But Ms. LaBass was highly opposed to the new position, as was Mr. Falkner. Ms. LaBass said volunteers could do the education, and she couldn’t understand why the Health Department would create a new position to help animals instead of children.

Joe Blumberg can be reached at joeblumberg@npgco.com.