Benjamin’s themes for ’12

Heading toward the middle of his first term, Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin’s second “State of the City” speech will lay out themes for 2012 that tout the city’s accomplishments and challenges that lay ahead.

Benjamin, 42, will spell out details during today’s 6 p.m. address at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.

He would have to persuade a majority of City Council to support any program he lays out.

Here are highlights of Benjamin’s priorities:

EMPLOYEE PAY RAISES

Perhaps the proposal that will attract the most attention as council is set to begin budget deliberations for the fiscal year that begins July 1 is Benjamin’s call for a 2 percent pay raise for the city’s 2,100 employees. City workers have not had a raise in three years.

City officials have not said what the raise would cost taxpayers.

Benjamin argues the city’s finances, which were in the dumps five years ago, are in better shape and that Columbia closed its 2011 books with a second consecutive year of surplus that total $7 million.

MORE MONEY FOR PUBLIC SAFETY

The mayor will touch on City Council’s approval last year of budget increases for public safety. The Columbia Police Department received $750,000 more than the prior year, bringing its budget to $29 million. The Fire Department received $500,000 more than in 2010, raising the toal to $20.1 million this year. Further, the city received about $2 million in federal public safety grants.

FINISHING THE GREENWAY DOWNTOWN

Benjamin wants the city to spend money to complete – in at least a bare bones way – a 2-mile downtown section of the pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly Three Rivers Greenway.

Benjamin has not put a price tag on his proposal for the 1.5-mile portion of the park that is to run from the Gervais Street bridge south to Granby Park near Olympia.

River Alliance director Mike Dawson estimates that a no-frills greenway costs about $1 million per mile.

Originally, the greenway was to weave from the rivers near Malfunction Junction – the intersection of I-20 and I-26 – to the Olympia neighborhood south of downtown. It was to cost $15 million when proposed in 1996, Dawson said.

Columbia has built portions of the park in the Granby and Olympia neighborhoods as well as near EdVenture and the CanalSide neighborhood. But it has not connected those sections and costs have risen dramatically.

EMPLOYEE HEALTH AND WELLNESS

The mayor wants to expand a pilot health initiative that encourages city workers to adopt good habits by rewarding their wellness efforts.

If employees quit smoking and participate in regular physicals, their health insurance premiums would be discounted.

Benjamin is adding his voice to a proposal to open an employee clinic in an existing building that would be staffed by private physicians and health providers under a contract with the city. As in the pilot program, an expanded wellness effort would encourage workers and their families to join the city’s Drew Wellness Center at discounted rates. Membership would provide access to personal trainers and dietary consultants. Employees would eventually become eligible for health care credits.

Benjamin has not released the cost of the program, but the pilot program has show it could save $4 in healthcare costs for every $1 spent.

MORE JOBS

The mayor cites employment figures that he said shows 8,500 people went back to work in the metropolitan area last year. Companies are advertising for openings in nursing, computer programming and other fields.

Five companies moved into the city high rise at 1301 Gervais St., bringing 200 workers downtown, who in turn shop and eat in city-center businesses, Benjamin said.