ARGYLE — A proposed increase for staff salaries hit a snag Tuesday night during the first of two public hearings on the town’s 2007-08 budget.

Lyle Dresher

Town Administrator Lyle Dresher proposed both a 3 percent cost-of-living in­crease and a market adjustment for all staff salaries. Those in­creases, together with the proposed addition of two public works employees, in­creases the town’s payroll by more than 26 percent, from $1.06 million to $1.34 million. Town leaders an­ticipate nearly $2.2 million in total revenue next year.

Dresher acknowledged that some council members had come to him privately to question the market adjustment after the council’s budget workshop earlier this month.

Council member Joe Phelps said he was un­comfortable with the timing of the controversy, since the budget must be passed by the end of Sep­tember.

“It’s a little late in the game for this, boys and girls,” Phelps said.

The market adjustment would add $129,700. The cost-of-living increase tacks an additional $27,300 to the budget. Ar­gyle currently employs 18 people.

Mayor Greg Landrum proposed that the council consider the $1.34 million line item for payroll as a “placeholder” and discuss market adjustments separately.

Town staff conducted a salary survey of 10 area cities to arrive at the recommended adjustments. Cities typically lose valuable employees to neighboring cities and, in the long run, end up paying more to train new employees, Dresher said.

Dresher himself was hired away from Keller for a starting salary of $125,000. The amount was second in the area only to Denton City Manager George Campbell’s starting salary of $192,000. When Corinth (population 19,450) hired Clovia English away from Lockhart last September, its leaders offered a base salary of $120,000.

Dresher told the Argyle council members that if they weren’t comfortable adop­ting the market adjustment as is, they could consider two other options.

One, they could make the market ad­justments to all employees except department administrators.

“You, as a council, consider their salaries when you hire them,” Dresher said.

Two, they could ask a consultant to do an independent market analysis for the city and consider the adjustments mid-year.

“They [the consultant] may see the market differently than we did,” Dresher said.

The Argyle Town Council will hold its second public hearing on the budget, and the property tax rate to support it, on Sept. 11. The council is scheduled to adopt the final budget Sept. 25.