From Port City Daily:
The day before Port City Daily filed requests for records of beach town leaders’ recent out-of-town expenses (related story), it tapped the City of Wilmington for information on its top-paid employees.
The city is piecing together its budget for the coming new fiscal year and a priority for council members and staffers alike is to afford the city’s workforce a raise in pay. Human Resources Director Jeanne Sexton earlier this month had told Wilmington City Council that wages overall for the city’s workforce were about 9 percent below market. (Although they discussed raises generally, much of the conversation centered on public safety workers. Sexton said other municipalities were hiring at higher pay levels and that the City of Wilmington didn't want to face a recruitment crisis related to its current salaries.)
The city employs more than 900 workers, according to a recent progress report (a presentation from staff earlier this month about the workforce noted 827 hourly employees).