MARSHALL — Marshall Municipal Utilities will be moving forward with a 4.5% pay increase for employees next year.

On Wednesday, the MMU Commission voted to adopt a 2025 salary scale and benefits that included the increase.

Members of the Commission’s personnel committee said they hoped the salary adjustment would help keep MMU in the middle of the pay range for utilities in the region.

“We had a lot of discussion about not necessarily keeping up with other utilities, but not being way behind either. So we don’t want to be the highest, we don’t want to be the lowest, but we need to be in the middle,” Commission member Cindy Verschaetse said.

The MMU Commission looks at adjusting employee pay every year, although the MMU general manager’s pay is set separately. Earlier this month, the personnel committee heard a proposal for a 4.5% employee pay adjustment.

General Manager David Schelkoph said he believed the 4.5% increase would help MMU keep up with inflation and rising costs of living, and help retain employees.

Last year, a 4.5% pay increase was proposed for MMU employees, but the Commission approved a 3.5% increase instead.

We discussed a lot of things, we looked at a lot of data,” Verschaetse said. “After reviewing all of that information, and lots of discussion, we did come to a consensus of the committee to recommend to the full commission a 4.5% structural salary adjustment for 2025.”

Verschaetse said the committee also talked about items in the employee benefit package.

“Insurance premiums are going up. We can’t really control much of that,” she said.

Schelkoph said employees also asked to increase their health care savings plan contributions from $10 per pay period to $20 per pay period. It was a move that would not cost the utility, he said.

“I thought that was a forward-thinking thought process that I would like to encourage in all of our employees,” Schelkoph said.