San Mateo County Grand Jury • 2008-2009

Issue | Background | Findings | Conclusions | Recommendations | Responses | Attachments Summary of Reversing the Upward

Published: June 05, 2009 180 pages
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Findings and Recommendations 8 findings

F1
Employee wages and compensation packages are not affordable. The escalating employee costs can and should be reversed in the twenty cities of San Mateo County.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Convene at least one public session in 2009 devoted to controlling employee costs by reviewing all applicable issues in this report, including but not limited to the issues presented below. The session should result in a Wage, Benefit and City- Staffing Action Plan.
F2
Long-term solutions, in addition to stop-gap measures such as temporary wage freezes and furloughs, are needed.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Create a Citizen “Wage Benefit and City Staffing” Task Force consisting of five to seven members, drawn by lottery from resident applicants, charged with: a) Attending the session(s) convened per Recommendation One b) Creating and reviewing the Wage, Benefit and City-Staffing Action Plan (Action Plan) that is produced by the Task Force from this session c) If not satisfied with the Action Plan, recommending ballot measures, in consultation with the city attorney, for the city council to sponsor at the next regularly scheduled election The items in the Action Plan should address but not be limited to:
F3
Union contracts for new municipal employees can be introduced, reducing the cost to cities for both pension and post-retirement health care plans.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Initiating competitive hiring practices to: a) Broaden the compensation horizon by considering comparable jobs in both the private and public sectors. b) Employ more market-oriented compensation practices so that salaries can adjust up or down in times of high and low competition for labor. c) Consider the number of applicants for respective jobs, when negotiating salaries, noting, for example, that there are often 300 to 1000 applicants for firefighter jobs. d) Develop more applicants by initiating outreach programs to universities, community colleges, returning veterans, and local high schools, especially for police recruits. e) Join with other cities, and/or the County to create a central training center that promotes cross-training and succession planning for existing staff, and, additionally, introduces qualified applicants from the private sector to public sector service.
F4
For current, as well as newly hired employees, salary increases, total days off, and the ability to accrue and cash out sick leave, can be contained.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
Reducing need for Staff by: a) Expanding the use of technology to streamline services. b) Exploring the possibility of contracting out some functions currently performed by city employees, while giving those employees the opportunity to cost-effectively retain those functions in house. c) Creating partnerships with other cities and/or the county to include, for example: payroll, human resources, landscaping, fire fighting, police, recreation, and, custodial work. The County already provides centralized training and dispatch services.
F5
The practice of basing compensation packages on those of nearby cities contributes to higher employee costs overall. Ibid: Emde, Lionel; for verification see: http://www.cityofpacifica.org/civica/filebank/blobdload.asp?BlobID=3110 see #6 on consent calendar & attachment http://www.cityofpacifica.org/civica/filebank/blobdload.asp?BlobID=3146 see consent calendar minutes
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
Increasing Public Involvement by: a) Holding public hearings before initiating closed session negotiations to counter balance strong union pressure in city council election issues and the fact that staff members, who negotiate compensation packages, receive the same negotiated benefits. b) Making public the Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with the unions that result from these negotiations. c) Placing the MOUs as a current agenda item after two weeks of making them public, and invite discussion in a public arena.
F6
Cost-efficiencies have been achieved by contracting out some services to other cities or to private-sector firms.
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
Involving Taxpayers: a) If a city council is reluctant to create a two-tier wage and compensation system addressing current and retirement pension and health benefits for new hires for the various unions, the city council should place ballot measures initiating such two-tier systems on local ballots and allow voters to support or reject them.
F7
Cooperation among cities to reduce overlapping functions has been successfully implemented.
No recommendations for this finding
F8
Political barriers-to-change exist because the people negotiating employee contracts-- staff, unions and city council members-- all benefit when wage and compensation packages increase. These barriers can be neutralized with public involvement and, possibly, through ballot measures.
No recommendations for this finding

Conclusions 14

No Responses Found 1

Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.

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