jambushoytan: Cost sharing is caring ? Blogging Bayport Alameda

Cost sharing is?caring

Tonight, the City Council will be voting on a new MOU for police and fire which includes huge concessions from the bargaining units with regards to health care ?and post-retirement benefits. ? ?Some will think it still doesn?t go far enough, but short of eliminating the two departments altogether, I don?t think some folks would be pleased with any MOU.

Right now all bargaining units are paying 9% of their salary to pension premiums, that is being raised to 15%. ? Just to provide a frame of reference, the recent legislation that passed allows cities to impose a maximum of 12% starting in 2018, so the fact that we?re getting 15% from our bargaining units now is huge.

Also in the MOUs are the agreement that final retirement amount will be based on three years average instead of the last year which should avoid a lot of the pension spiking that has happened in the past. ? by ?in the past? I don?t know if this has happened in Alameda but we?ve all read about it happening elsewhere.

According to the staff report there are no salary bumps during the first six months, and much like the MOU that was negotiated for the Executive staff (City Manager, etc.) there will only be salary bumps if the City does well.

There?s also an educational incentive that staff can receive, but it?s only based on if the individual staff does continuing education

Another big thing is the cost sharing for the health premiums.

So here?s what this looks like over the lifetime of the MOU:

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