The organization, which represents 25 city employees, is hoping the city reinstates merit salary increases in the next financial year.

"It's in the proposed budget. It has not been approved yet," said Kristen Borel, an administrative assistant with the city.

The employees association had agreed to suspend merit pay increases in the last two years in order to keep costs down.

"Our salaries have stayed the same. We got a 1.4-percent hike because the cost of living index went up," said Beverly Tucker, president of the association.

She said that such neighboring cities as Sunnyvale and Santa Clara are still handing out merit pay increases to their employees.

At a city council meeting on May 4, the association handed a memo to City Manager Dave Anderson that talked about low morale and the need to retain employees by giving them a better deal.

Borel said that she was in complete agreement with the employee retention philosophy suggested by city administration recently. City officials have proposed a "new normal," a policy by which employees can earn merit increases again.

"It will make our job better. We will be doing less with less," she said. "All these people leaving has a big impact on remaining staff. Employees are really stretching because the city is still offering the same services."

Tucker also said that neighboring cities the same size as Saratoga often have more employees.

"Once people start leaving, it plants a seed in other people's minds. It's stressful to see people laid off; it's stressful to see people leave," said Borel.

Tucker, who works for the recreation department, has been with the city for 14 years.

"I don't want to see the community suffer. We all want to provide the best service," she said.

Both Tucker and Borel said that they wanted to work with the city administration to work out a solution.

"We work with them every day. This is a small and intimate work environment," said Tucker.