Contracts With Multi-Million Dollar Taxpayer Impacts -- And Raises For City Hall Employees From Firefighters To City Management -- Coming To Council Votes April 18
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(April 12, 2017, 12:50 p.m., updated April 13, 2:21 p.m.) -- On Tuesday April 18, the City Council is scheduled to take publicly recorded votes on contracts containing pay raises for multiple classes of City Hall employees ranging from Firefighters to City Management. Based on information in a City Hall release, it appears the new contracts cover many if not nearly all City employees who haven't already been given pay raises under new contracts with IAM and LBPOA in fall 2016 and early 2017 respectively.
One of the contracts scheduled for April 18 Council approval is with the LB Firefighters Association and includes $7.2 million more in General Fund costs by the end of Sept. 2019...on top of $14.3 million by the same date in General Fund costs approved by the Council in Jan. 2017 in a new contract for the Long Beach Police Officers Association.
LB's police and firefighter unions' political action committees were the two largest financial contributors a political committee supporting City Hall sought ballot Measure A (June 2016) whose revenue Councils can spend on any General Fund items (and city management says isn't being used for raises but for infrastructure and public safety items. To date, the Council has restored 17 officers for taxpayers out of 208 erased since FY10 and restored Fire Engine 8 and Rescue 12, but not Engine 17 (still absent at Stearns Park Stn. 17.)
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An April 11 City Hall release says the new LB Firefighters union contract would have a total estimated annual net General Fund fiscal impact of $3.3 million in FY 17, and $7.2 million in the General Fund by the end of Sept. 2019. It includes a 9% general fund salary increase over three years (3% per year) plus changes to certain skill pays (summarized at this link: http://bit.ly/2nBgzHo) and changes to health care that a City release says will "stabilize health benefit costs and provide long-term savings for the City."
The City Hall release says a "City and FFA salary survey results [not attached to City release] indicated that the City ranked 10th in Firefighter salary compared to nine other regional Fire agencies [including] Anaheim, Glendale, Huntington Beach, Los Angeles City and County, Orange County, Pasadena, Santa Monica, and Torrance."
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Also on April 18, the Council is scheduled to vote on contracts providing raises for members of three other City Hall employee unions, including a union representing LB City Managers and a separate management proposed Council resolution that would give similar raises to management employees not represented by a union. "The salary adjustment for the miscellaneous groups and unrepresented employees would have a total estimated annual net fiscal impact of $0.8 million in the General Fund in FY 17, and $2.1 million in the General Fund at the end of the three-year agreement. Additionally, in FY 17, the one-time costs are estimated at $0.7 million in the General Fund," City Hall's release says.
[April 13 UPDATE] In response to our inquiry, the City's Director of Human Resources, Alex Basquez, tells LBREPORT. that there aren't any provisions in the new proposed agreements that would trigger the "me too" provision in the Jan. 2017 police officers contract (that if any non-POA bargaining units receivd a greater compensation increase the same would be given to LBPOA with certain exceptions.) [END update]
In the City release, Mayor Robert Garcia called the new firefighters contract includes "modest wage and skill pay increases consistent with recent raises provided to Police Officers. I want to thank the FFA leadership for working with the City's negotiating team to develop an agreement that is fair and fiscally sensible."
