Council pay cut floated for budget woes

If Petaluma City Council members give up part of the compensation they receive, city employees might decide to do the same with their salaries — a relatively simple cost-cutting measure, one councilman is suggesting.

Councilmember Mike Healy said by volunteering to cut their compensation, he and his colleagues could make a show of good faith to city workers who are facing furloughs and possible layoffs as the city wrestles with a $2.3 million budget shortfall over the next 18 months.

Healy broached the subject two weeks ago as the council debated ways to close the budget gap, saying that Santa Rosa Junior College had instituted a similar cutback — with top officials giving up a larger percentage of their pay and asking rank-and-file workers for a lesser amount.

“I do think that since we have a council that gets paid a little bit, that we should be in the front of the line and be offering to reduce our salary and benefits package,” Healy told his colleagues at the Nov. 2 meeting.

“I think we should be taking a 25 percent cut in our pay and benefits and asking the employees to consider the junior college model as one we might emulate here,” he said.

A formal analysis of the proposal hasn’t been conducted, but Healy said rough calculations show that if city administrators take a 10 percent pay cut and other employees accept a 5 percent reduction, it could add up to $1.5 million over the next 18 months.

“The idea is that everyone has to opt in and share the pain,” he said. “It’s a way for the council and for management to show leadership.”

At SRJC, “What I’m told by insiders there is that this smoothed over a lot of tense relationships and that it was well received within the organization,” Healy said.

Councilmembers get paid $5 a meeting — $10 for the mayor — and have the same health benefits as city employees. They are able to decline medical coverage and take a payment for half the value each month.

Six of the seven members take that option, with monthly payments ranging from $542 to $687 each, depending on whether a spouse or family is also included.

Council members also have the choice to enroll in the state’s Public Employees Retirement System, making them eligible for a small city payment for retiree health benefits in exchange for a portion of their $5-a-meeting pay. None have done so, said Pamala Robbins, the city’s human resources manager.

The council in 1994 dropped its lifetime benefits package as part of an effort to ask voters to approve an increase in pay. But three measures to boost council pay failed at the ballot box in the 1990s.

Today, a handful of former council members are covered by the city’s dental and vision plans, and some receive monthly payments toward medical insurance. For example, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey — a former council member — is covered by the city’s dental and vision plans, and says she uses the city plans because they provide better coverage than what members of Congress receive.

This year, the city is paying a total of $50,471 for the health coverage of one member, Mayor Pamela Torliatt, and the “medical cashback” payments for the other council members. A 25 percent cut, as proposed by Healy, would save the city $12,618 a year.

So far, the idea is getting mixed reviews. Some council members say it should be explored, while others haven’t taken a position or suggest that council benefits should be subject to the same reductions as those of city employees. Councilmember David Glass could not be reached for comment.

Council members Mike Harris and David Rabbitt said they are open to the proposal.

“The net effect on the budget would be small, but it is imperative to lead by example during these fiscally uncertain times,” Harris said. “Every line item in the budget needs to be questioned and discussed.”

Torliatt and Vice Mayor Teresa Barrett said the benefits package should remain standard citywide.

“Whatever the employees’ benefits package is, it’s reflected in the City Council benefits package,” Torliatt said. “That’s always been the reflection of who pays for benefits.”

If employee benefits change, “council benefits should change accordingly,” Barrett said.

Benefit reductions will likely be discussed during City Manager John Brown’s negotiations with employee groups. Potential changes “should be negotiated by employees and management without consideration of council members’ benefits,” Councilmember Tiffany Renée said.

Those negotiations are beginning this week, Brown told the council Monday, in preparation for a Dec. 7 meeting on possible budget changes. With 80 percent of the city’s general fund spent on personnel costs, pay and/or benefit reductions are likely, officials have said.

Solutions could include a salary freeze for new employees, having employees pay a greater share of health costs, or, as a last measure, layoffs.

The city will also be seeking to institute a weeklong employee furlough this year and next, a move that could save $900,000, Brown said.

“I will be talking furlough with some of these groups as a starting point, rather than trying to complicate it with some of the other issues that I raised last time as personnel decisions,” he told the council. “I’m hoping we may be able to come to some agreement on a furlough that would resolve the need for talking about some of those other things that are more difficult to make happen, and potentially more contentious.”

(Contact Corey Young at corey.young@arguscourier.com)