The Kenai City Council has established an annual tool allowance of $1,500 for employees at the City Shop who are required to furnish their own standard working tools as part of their position requirement.
Similar to the City’s Uniform Allowance, the tool allowance would be paid biannually in two equal payments in July and January, and sufficient funds are included in the proposed FY2024 budget.
Council member Winger posed the question if these tools would be the property of the city or the individual.
City Manager Terry Eubank explained the tools will be the property of the employee;
“They’re still required as a condition of employment, to provide a basic set of tools and they have a detailed list of what those tools are. This tool allowance is just compensation for them to maintain those tools and modernize those tools. They will be their tools. If there are any specialty tools that are still required to be purchased for specific pieces of equipment, we will purchase those. And those will be the property of the city.”
Mayor Brian Gabriel called on his own experience working at DOT to expand on the explanation;
“During my employment at dot, we work with the state equipment fleet in our building, and this is a standard practice within governmental organizations.”
The City has been paying directly for new and replacement tools while employees are required to provide others. An annual tool allowance of $1,500 for employees required to furnish their own standard working tools is comparable to allowances offered at other places of public employment.
Human Resources worked with the Public Works Director and City Shop Foreman to clarify what standard tools employees and prospective employees would be required to bring to the job and recommended an annual tool allowance to defer the cost of those tools.