Score: +1
(1/3/0)
Santa Clara County Grand Jury
• 2009-2010
• Agency Response
Response to:
City of Milpitas
City of Milpitas Office of Mayor Robert Livengood
Published: August 27, 2010
8 pages
⚠️ Aviso de traducción: Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 1 findings
F6
Page 4
- Public sector employees are granted agenerous number of holidays, personal days,vacation days and sickleave annually. Rulesand limits on accrualvary bycity and union, but vacation daysand sickleave can be accumulated andconverted to cashor calculated into the pension benefit within those limits. City Response: Agree.
Related Recommendations (2)
R6a
Page 4
- Citiesshould renegotiate with the bargaining units to 1)reduce vacation time; 2} reduce the number of holidays and/or personal days;3}capsickleaveand eliminate the practice of converting accumulated sick leaveto cashor adding into their years of servicefor inclusion intheir retirement benefit.
R6b
Page 4
- Citiesshould negotiate to substitute paid daysoff for unpaid daysinstead of imposing furloughs. Forexample, reduce paid holidays to major holidays only, consistent with private industry; and convert minor holidays to unpaid. Therefore, the public isnot impacted byfewer services causedby furloughs, and the city savesthe employee cost.
Agency Responses 1
Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.
▶
City of Milpitas
August 27, 2010
•
8 pages
• 13 responses
•
Score: +1
(+1, 3, 0)
View Details ▾
13 responses to findings and recommendations
R4
- Citiesshould negotiate that employees assumesome of these increased costsfor their medical benefits. To contain medical costscities should consider the following: A. Split monthly premiums between the city andthe employee and increase the employee's share, if already cost splitting, and remove any employee caps. B. Establish reasonable co-paysfor doctors' visits, prescription drugs, and in-patient and out patient hospital care. e. Prohibit an employee from being covered by both city-provided m...
Response: Unknown
Score: 0
Agree. The City will consider in the future modifications to its medical benefit programs to either cap employer costs or directly apportion cost to employees. Alternatives may include implementation of cafeteria plan style medical benefit program; disallowance of double medical
Hon. Jamie Jacobs-May August 17,2010 Page 3 coverage; cost recovery of dependent medical, etc. Currently the Citypays no more than the Kaiser medical benefit rate. Milpitas is a member of the Public Employees Medical and Hospital CareAct (PEMHCA) pragram offered through CaIPERS. The purchasing power of this large grou...
F6
- Public sector employees are granted agenerous number of holidays, personal days,vacation days and sickleave annually. Rulesand limits on accrualvary bycity and union, but vacation daysand sickleave can be accumulated andconverted to cashor calculated into the pension benefit within those limits. City Response: Agree.
Response: Agree
Score: +1
Agree.
R6a
- Citiesshould renegotiate with the bargaining units to 1)reduce vacation time; 2} reduce the number of holidays and/or personal days;3}capsickleaveand eliminate the practice of converting accumulated sick leaveto cashor adding into their years of servicefor inclusion intheir retirement benefit.
Response: Unknown
Score: 0
Vacation, holiday, and personal leave time reduction are asubject offuture bargaining with labor groups as a mandatory subject of bargaining under the Meyers Milias Brown Act. To the extent there are significant potential budgetary savings, the City willconsider the feasibility of this recommendation during future negotiations.
R6b
- Citiesshould negotiate to substitute paid daysoff for unpaid daysinstead of imposing furloughs. Forexample, reduce paid holidays to major holidays only, consistent with private industry; and convert minor holidays to unpaid. Therefore, the public isnot impacted byfewer services causedby furloughs, and the city savesthe employee cost.
Response: Unknown
Score: 0
Changes to holidays and leave time benefits are a mandatory subject of bargaining under collective bargaining law. Currently, Milpitas observes 12major holidays; not greatly exceeding what isafforded in private industry. This recommendation could be explored by the city during future bargaining on the issue. Findin~ 7 - Citiestraditionally determine their compensation packagesby surveying the wages and benefits of other public sector employees in the samegeographic area. There ismajor resistance to comparing themselves or mirroring trends with the private sector. Thishasallowed wages and benef...
R7a
- Citiesshould research competitive hiring practices and alter the approach to determine fair wages and benefits for eachcity by using public andprivate sector data.
Response: Unknown
Score: 0
Changes to wage and benefit packages are a mandatory subject of bargaining under collective bargaining law. The City of Milpitas is willing to consider use of private sector employment data, if available, for purposes of comparing similarly-situated job classifications.
R7b
- Citiesshould renegotiate salariesandwagesusingvalid market comparisons and not only the current wage index. Citiesshould utilize more market-oriented compensation practices sothat salaries can adjust ascompetition for labor changes. Citiesshould reduce entry-level compensation for positions for which there are many qualified applicants.
Response: Unknown
Score: 0
Changes to wage and benefit packages are a mandatory subject of bargaining under collective bargaining law. The City agrees with this recommendation and this recommendation could be explored by the city during future bargaining on the issue. Findin~ 8- All cities perform certain core functions to run smoothly and provide servicesto their residents. To reduce employee costs and streamline operations, the cities are invarious stagesof contracting servicesto private industry or partnering with other cities, special districts, or the County to deliver services.
Hon. JamieJacobs-May August 17, 201...
R8a
- Cities should explore outsourcing some functions andservicesto private industry. Cities should discussthe prospect with cities that are successfully doing this to determine best practices and areasfor success. Cities should develop contracts with measurable objectives, performance goals,and timelines.
Response: Implemented
Score: 0
above. Findinl! 9 - Cities can gain operational efficiencies and effectiveness with lower employee costs by making sure they are staffed with the correct numbers of people inthe appropriate job classifications in all departments and work groups. City Response: Agree. Recommendation 9 - Citiesshould analyzethe functions performed by alljob classifications and make adjustments in the work force. Consolidate functions within the samegroup or asimilar group. Reassign appropriate work to lower paidjob classifications. Eliminate unnecessary functions. City Response: Milpitas has always worked to be ...
R8b
- Citiesshould create partnerships with other cities, special districts, and/or the County for services such aspayroll, human resources, animal control, police andfire. Citiesshould investigate sharing the cost of new information technology systems.
Response: Unknown
Score: 0
The City presently operates partnerships with other cities and special districts and continues to explore viable options that willcreate greater efficiencies appropriate to the City's service needs. Like contracting out, shifting work to another entity when the work is currently performed by bargaining unit employees issubject to meet and confer obligations. Currently, the City of Milpitas does contract out animal control and other areas described in response to
R9
- Citiesshould analyzethe functions performed by alljob classifications and make adjustments in the work force. Consolidate functions within the samegroup or asimilar group. Reassign appropriate work to lower paidjob classifications. Eliminate unnecessary functions.
Response: Unknown
Score: 0
Milpitas has always worked to be an efficient and effectively staffed organization. Changes to staffing receive careful review and consideration and are included in the budget process. As vacancies in staffing arise, careful consideration of the vacant position iscompleted before refilling the position and any changes to the job classification are pursued. Since 2007 the City has been under a hiring freeze and has replaced vacant positions only if deemed essential after full analysis of need. In June of 2009, the Cityimposed a lay-off which eliminated 21full time positions as a cost-saving mea...
R12a
- City council members and mayors should become better informed about the fiscal realities in their cities, long-term costs andcommitments, and becognizant of potential issuesin labor agreements.
Response: Implemented
Score: 0
Thisrecommendation has been implemented. The CityCouncilhas become well versed in the laborcontrocts associated with each laborgroup. With tightening budgets, need for such knowledge willbecome more acute and Councilwillbe provided additional data. TheCounciland staff willcontinue to pursue this education and sharing of information for allfuture negotiations.
R12b
- Citycouncils and mayors should direct city administrators to (re)negotiate collective bargaining agreements that reverse the escalation of employee coststhrough concessions,cost sharing, and a second tier for new employees.
Response: Implemented
Score: 0
This recommendation has been implemented. Staff willpropose necessary cost saving measures during upcoming MOU negotiations and as a component of the budget process for FYii.
R12c
- Citycouncils and mayors should meet with the bargaining units to clearly outline the cities' financial health and show how employee costs are impacting the budget.
Response: Unknown
Score: 0
The Milpitas City Council operates thraugh the executive management team to negotiate with its bargaining units. Recently, direct communications during a series of meetings conducted by the City Manager were successful in bringing about agreement to a 7% wage/cost decrease with all city employees which was essential to balancing the FYiO city budget. During these numerous meetings, several of which were town hall type meetings with all city employees, the City Manager with the assistance of the Finance Director made a clear, sobering presentation of the City's financial situation and how it is...
R12d
- City councils and mayors should inform citizens of their plansfor controlling unsustainable employee costs and remove politics from the equation.
Response: Unknown
Score: 0
The City Council has utilized the public meeting forum to communicate to the citizens of Milpitas their priority of reducing employee costs. The Council has commented about this during recent meetings surrounding the budget adoption and appointment of budget task forces. The Milpitas City Council will continue to make this apriority and will continue to keep the puplic informed of its plans for controlling these and other costs. Pleasefeel free to contact me or Milpitas City Manager Thomas Williams if you seekadditional information or have any questions regarding this response to the SCCCGJrep...