$100,000/yr city employees to get big bonuses

How would you like it if your employer gave you a $17,000 increase in your pay during the recession on top of a Cadillac benefits package and double retirement benefits – and then offered a $16,000 bonus for doing a good job?

.Welcome to the City of Phoenix and to new policy passed on Nov. 3, which I voted against.   Here is what you already pay employees:

•    You already pay more than $200 million a year for employee pensions, plus a 401(k).
•    You pay employees either an annual step increase (a percentage jump) or a bonus called “longevity pay,” which amounts to thousands of dollars every year.
•    You give them an enviable health care plan (undoubtedly better than yours), a generous holiday schedule and hugely better job security than you get in the private sector.
•    The average total of all this pay and benefits is about $100,000 per year for about 15,000 employees.

But the city decided that evidently was not enough to keep your employees motivated. So Phoenix increased the incentive bonus employees could earn (by coming up with new ways to save the city money) from $3,500 to two-thirds of $25,000 (the other third goes to the department).

By the way, take a wild guess who’s paying for all of this? No doubt Phoenix believes you can well afford this.

Readers of these posts will also recall that so far this year the city has raised taxes and fees $100 million on your families and businesses while reducing programs, hours, locations and service levels.

Does anyone think these are trend lines that are good for Phoenix? Do we think that increasing already generous employee benefits – again – is going to help the city climb out of the hole it has dug for itself?

I think not. I believe city management, which has no plan for addressing unsustainable and increasing labor costs, must get its head out of the sand and develop just that.

I don’t see how anyone can look at the results of this month’s election and see any message other than fiscal accountability – and fairness for the taxpayer -- in government.  Phoenix can no longer ignore the elephant in the room.
 
In the last newsletter, I talked about the misinformation you received on the actual number of employees cut in the last budget.  It was not 1,500-2,000, but only 15. A also mentioned that I would be exposing other city policies that are not in your best interest. There are more coming your way.
 
I do this to get you give you the knowledge and comprehension that will enable you to demand a change in direction, one that considers you and your family first.

Below is an explanation of the many ways Phoenix pays its employees.
 
Please forward this message to all concerned taxpayers.
 
Thank you,
Sal DiCiccio
Phoenix City Council
 
District 6 Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio represents Ahwatukee, Arcadia, Biltmore, East Camelback and North Central Phoenix. He can be reached at 602-262-7491, or if you want to be added to the newsletter list, contact council.district.6@phoenix.gov. Or, go to www.ChangeAZ.com for more information and commentary.

A primer on how Phoenix pays its employees

Employees get either step or longevity pay increases, plus a cost of living adjustment.  Here are the multiple ways employees get a pay raise every year:

Regular employees:

Merit: This is the Performance Management Guide, or PMG. It’s not an increase by itself per se but the test that must be passed to get an increase. The PMG also must be passed to be eligible for longevity pay.

Steps increases: These are increases for time on the job. Generally there are 8, sometimes 9 steps an employee climbs with a pay increase for each. Generally these are one year jumps. Employee must rate acceptable on the PMG) to get a step increase.

Longevity: After an employee is at top step, he/she is eligible for longevity pay, which is a varying formula giving $X times Y years of service, generally paid out a couple of times a year. Employee must pass PMG. Amount and formula varies from area to area.

Cost of Living: This is a negotiated amount that is added/subtracted to each step in employee-management contracts. For example, if Step 1 for a Sewer Worker 1 was $50,000 and the COL went up 2% for the next year, everyone at that level would get a $1,000 increase, and new employees hired as Sewer Worker 1 would earn $51,000 until the next contract change.

In a year, then, and employee can get a COL increase plus move up a step, or and employee can get a COL increase and also get a longevity bonus.

Executives and managers
With executives and middle managers, it works differently. There is an established pool of X dollars. If the cost of living increase is 1% and the average merit increase is 2.8%, the average increase would be 3.8%. But those with good reviews might get 5% and those with poor reviews might get no increase.