Part of the proposed City of Indianola budget for FY25 includes raises and cost of living adjustments for salaries. City Manager Ben Reeves tells KNIA News there is an extra cost for when city employees leave for bigger cities or improved salaries when they have to fill that position, and there was a study held several years ago that showed city employees were underpaid compared to their peers.

“We put all of that together and came up with an average, and we want to stay right at that average. We don’t want to be above or below but right at that average, so that there is not a draw for the employees. They have the opportunity to stay and grow their careers here. So it was a real challenge for the council, because when you only look at salaries themselves if we don’t keep up with the other communities in the metro we end up losing our employees and that hurts our community overall.”

The Indianola City Council will consider the FY25 budget on April 22nd.