City council has been asked to sign off on a new contract for the majority of municipal employees.

At their weekly meeting Tuesday evening, members of council were presented with a draft of a negotiated contract with the 186 full- and part-time city employees who belong to the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

Presenting the contract to council, city manager Dennis Shewfelt said the contract, which was negotiated between last May and this fall, includes pay raises and benefits increases.

'(The contract with) the union represents the majority of our staff,' Shewfelt said.

According to a summary presented to council, the new contract would include an annual wage hike and more overtime opportunities.

According to the contract, wage increases, if approved by council, would include three per cent in 2006/07, 3.25 per cent in 2007/08 and 3.5 per cent in 2007/08.

Benefits would be enriched by 0.41 per cent in 2006/07, 0.54 per cent in 2007/08 and by 0.8 per cent in 2008/09.

According to city information, the 11.5 per cent raise in wages and benefits would require an additional $1.2 million to the $10.4 million the city currently spends on wages and benefits per year.

The average wage of the employees who would fall under the contract, according to the city, is now $52,976 a year.

The contract has a number of other features, including:

• a move from two to three weeks for compensatory overtime for vacation;

• long service bonuses to encourage employee retention;

• employees with more than 15 years of service would carry more than two years of unused vacation leave credits instead of the current one year; and

• grandchildren would now be added to the definition of family for the purposes of leaves of absence.

City council must approve the proposed agreement before it can take effect.