KINGSTON – The post of City of Kingston Building and Safety inspector has been expanded from part-time to full-time status for the remainder of 2015. The switch came Tuesday night at the common council’s regular monthly meeting, in a last-minute resolution introduced at the end of a quick 10-minute session.
City council members needed to vote on suspending the rules to allow the unscheduled item onto the bottom of the agenda, in order to pass the adjustment.
Building and safety inspection currently falls under the fire department’s budget line. The salary increase jumps from $27,173 to $54,376, but is expected to pay for itself with departmental mitigation, including additional revenues from the extra fees and code enforcement.
“I feel this is a win-win situation for the city, making this part-time employee a full-time employee,” noted Mary Ann Mills, the 7th Ward alderwoman and Finance Committee chair, who introduced the budget amendment. She indicated the switch has zero financial impact, since the $6,000 in additional funding was found elsewhere in the fire department budget.
“I was for it right from the get-go,” agreed 9th Ward Alderwoman Deborah Brown, current minority leader and chairwoman of the Budget Committee. “As you know, we are very short-handed in the Building and Safety Division, and with the prospect of reviewing the fee schedules, I would be an advocate for the following year in 2016 budget,” she said.
“I was initially a no vote on this in committee,” explained First Ward aldermen Matt Dunn. “After hearing from the fire department, they believe they are going to be able to raise significant revenues for next year’s budget. Given the fiscal constraints that we have going forward, on the contingency that they’re able to raise those funds, I support this motion tonight. However what we do with next year’s budget, that’s still an open question.”
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