PORTAGE (WKZO) -- The Portage City Council has again given City Manager Maurice Evans high marks on his annual performance review, saying he exceeds expectations in all their ratings categories, but the man hasn’t had a raise in three years, by his own choice. He has maintained that the state of their budget just didn’t justify it when other employees were also taking on more work and not always receiving more pay.

After hours of debate in both the evaluation subcommittee and among the full council they finally approved a 2.5% raise and a one-time $5,000 bonus, effective July 1st, after rejecting other proposals. It passed 4 to 3 at their regular meeting Tuesday night.

Evans thanked the board for the kind words, the raise and the bonus, saying he enjoys his job.