Redondo Beach city employees are finally getting their pay back.
The City Council on Tuesday night agreed to fully restore the wage concessions accepted by employees during the recession, a move that kept the city afloat as it faced multimillion-dollar budget deficits. The council also unanimously agreed to a 2 percent cost-of-living increase to employee salaries going forward, and to give all employees a $5,780 one-time stipend as a goodwill gesture.
“This is a good thing. This is just starting to get people back to where they belong,” Mayor Steve Aspel said of the restoration. “We’re not giving away the farm. We’re giving back pieces we took away a long time ago.”
To help the city plug a $7.3 million shortfall in 2009, employee union groups agreed to 6 percent salary concessions to avoid significant layoffs and service cuts to residents. But, while many assumed the cuts would be restored soon after, the concessions were carried over year after year, causing a nasty, drawn-out squabble between employees and since-fired City Manager Bill Workman. Employee groups demonstrated in front of City Hall and stormed council meetings to draw attention to the “unfair, dishonest” treatment they claimed they were enduring.
Concessions were slowly restored over the last couple years, eventually leaving just a 2 percent gap between current and former wages.
The decision Tuesday night simply brings employee compensation back to the pre-2009 level, plus a 2 percent average increase, staff said.
“These are fairly modest adjustments, all things considered,” said Mike Witzansky, the city’s interim assistant city manager. “It’s not as if employees are being reimbursed for the last five years or being given a snapback compensating for lost wages. We’re simply eliminating the reduction and adding a 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment.”
The one-time stipend will be distributed either on Friday’s paycheck or early next year, depending on what each of the affected employee groups chose, Witzansky said.
“The per-employee amount was set at $5,780 regardless of classification,” Witzansky said. “Whether they’re a manager, maintenance worker down at the pier or firefighter, all of our employees are sharing in this resource equally. This was a big policy statement our council made.”
The police officers association and police management unit are not included in the wage restoration or stipends because the city is still negotiating with those two union groups.
Stipends will not be given to the council or elected officials, such as the city attorney or city clerk, because their pay is determined through a different process, he said.
The stipends cost the city $2 million, an amount set aside by the council at the end of the last fiscal year to reward employees for their concessions over the years.
Witzansky said the ongoing cost of the restored salaries and cost-of-living increase is estimated at $1.6 million annually, a figure the city can now afford thanks to the improved economy, increased city revenue and budget reductions.
Council members thanked the employees Tuesday for their sacrifice over the past five years.
“It was only because of employees giving up their pay that we were able to balance the budget without massive layoffs,” Councilman Bill Brand said. “I’ve seen nothing but you guys taking cuts since I’ve been on council.”
Six of the employee groups — the Professional and Supervisory Association, Teamsters, City Employees Association, Firefighters Association, part-time employees (nonunion) and Management and Confidential Employees (also unrepresented) —also received other benefits in the new one-year contract agreements approved Tuesday, including updated tuition reimbursement, expanded bereavement leave, bilingual pay and three new vacation days around the holidays.
City Hall and the library now will be closed an extra three days over Christmas and New Year’s because of the additional holidays, although emergency response operations will remain the same.
Robert Norman, vice president of the Professional and Supervisory Association, told the council the employees were encouraged by the restoration of wages.
“We’ve had considerable cuts in salary and staffing (more than 50 positions over the last five years), and it’s exhausting for staff to continue to retrain people,” he said. “We sense that you all see that. I think this is a step toward paving a more positive (future) for this organization.”