Cape Coral City Council members approved a wage increase for non-bargaining city employees. This decision came from a council meeting that included discussions on raising wages and other city developments.
Non-bargaining employees, such as managers, accountants, and engineers, will see their minimum wage increase from just over $45,000 to over $47,000 annually. This change is based on a research study comparing Cape Coral’s wages to 10 other cities across the state.
District Three Councilmember Donnell emphasized the importance of competitive wages.
“What do you hear all the time? Hear from my daughter here from we don’t get paid enough. We don’t get paid enough. So we want to make sure we create an atmosphere and a culture and pay people for what they’re worth. So moving to the 75th percentile, that actually was a goal years ago, and actually get them there for the Union. And we don’t want to let non union people also know, hey, we’re just one big, happy family,” said Donnell.
The city confirmed that taxpayers would not see any impact from this wage increase as it was already budgeted for this year.
In other developments, Cape Coral is planning to erect the nation’s largest flagpole for America’s 250th birthday on July 4. The city manager announced that starting tomorrow, donations would be collected for this project.
The budget for the flagpole is around $500,000, with the flag itself costing approximately $400,000. The city’s website will be ready to accept donations tomorrow.