This spring, all registered voter households in the city of Kettering will receive a postcard in the mail that lists salary and benefit information for a very small number of City of Kettering employees.
An amendment to the City Charter requires that in odd numbered years, the city must create a document that provides salary and benefit information for the top, middle, and lower 15 full time City employees by earnings and mail it to all registered voter households in Kettering. A group of Kettering residents secured enough petition signatures to place this amendment on the ballot, and Kettering voters approved it in November 2016. The City of Kettering mailed this required postcard to all registered voter households for the first time in late March 2017. The taxpayer cost of the mailer was approximately $6,300.
Charter Section 10-12 states that the mailer “shall contain no other information or statements other than specifically provided for herein”.
In other words, the Charter amendment prohibits the City from providing any context to the figures on the postcard such as the data used to calculate earnings, salary comparisons, information on how City staff salaries are determined, and how the City has achieved personnel savings in recent years.
The figures used for the mandatory postcard represent total compensation, including employee salary as well as benefits. Some employees surge to the top of the earnings list as a result of overtime or retirement benefits, which are included in total compensation calculations.
2023 Charter Mandated Postcard
It is important that the Kettering community knows that a complete and searchable database of salary information for ALL City employees, not just the select handful on the postcard, as well as a searchable database of all city expenditures is posted on the city website.
Kettering Open Government Portal
This resource is accurate, available 24/7 year round, and goes far beyond the information contained in the required postcard.
Should you have any questions about the salary postcard, please contact the City Manager’s Office. Our phone number is (937) 296-2412 or our email is KetteringCityManager@Ketteringoh.org .