On June 15, 2010 the City Manager announced management compensation and fringe benefits changes for:
- -APPOINTED OFFICIALS
- -MAYOR, COMMISSIONERS, AND COMPTROLLER
- -NON-REPRESENTED
-
-EXECUTIVE CLASSIFIED
-
-61ST DISTRICT COURT NON-REPRESENTED MANAGEMENT EMPLOYEES
Management also agreed to forfeit the 2.5% wage increase scheduled for June 30, 2010.
The following represents the consensus reached for additional benefit concessions for management.
1. Health Insurance
Increase the employees’ premium sharing costs by an additional 10% for a total premium sharing cost of 20% (effective July 1, 2010 for the remainder employee group which did not convert in March 2010 but excludes 61st District Court Elected Officials).
2. Health Insurance Opt Out
Reduce the City’s monthly opt-out payment to employees from $491.18 to $150 (effective January 1, 2011).
3. Longevity
Eliminate the longevity benefit which has a maximum annual payment of $1,500 per employee (effective June 1, 2010).
4. Pension
Reduce the employer’s contribution of covered payroll by 20%. For employees in the Defined Benefit Plan this will be achieved by increasing their general retirement system pension contribution from 4.93% to 10.20% of covered payroll. Employees will have the following three options: (1) maintaining the existing 2.7 multiplier and contributing an additional 5.27% of their base wages (4.93 to 10.2); (2) selecting a reduced 2.5 multiplier and contributing an additional 4.02% of base wages (4.93 to 8.95); or (3) selecting a 2.2 multiplier and contributing an additional 2.35% of base wages (7.28). New hires will have a reduced multiplier of 2.0 and will contribute 6.15% of base wages. For employees in the Defined Contribution Plan this will be achieved by reducing the City’s contribution rate reduced by 20% to 12% of covered payroll with a minimum contribution of 6% of base wages and a maximum contribution of 9% of base wages. All pension changes will be effective in September 2010.
5. Reduce Accumulated Sick Leave Time by 50%
Sick leave hours will be accumulated at a rate of only ½ day per month for a total of 6 days per year (instead of 12). Current sick leave banks would remain in place. A family bank provision would be established to deal with special circumstances by allowing employees to donate sick time to a shared bank. This change will create both a cash savings and a productivity increase (effective July 1, 2010).
6. Reduce Accumulated Vacation Time through a Partial Buy-Back Program
This action will reduce accumulated vacation time and return monies that have been reserved to pay this leave time on a buyback program for ⅔ of its value. The City will save ⅓ of the financial value and will gain the value of productivity costs (effective in November 2010).