Is The Commission Out of Touch?

Linda Hudson: Fort Pierce mayor out of touch with reality as an advocate of bonuses for city employees?

Linda Hudson, chairman of the Downtown Farmers' Market and two-term secretary of the Fort Pierce Citizens Budget Advisory Committee is running for Fort Pierce mayor.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Whether Fort Pierce employees deserve Christmas bonuses for the last two years is of lesser importance than what the $35,000 cost symbolizes: City Hall just cannot stop spending, and many spending items get approved on the consent agenda, meaning the public gets no information or hears no discussion about the justification.

Here are some facts about the city budget that may help the public decide whether Christmas bonuses were justified in 2010 and 2011, keeping in mind the measure of fairness to taxpayer and employee. Finance Director Gloria Johnson said employees are "facing economic hardship and have had to do more with less."

The city has budgeted $22.8 million for salaries and benefits in fiscal 2012 for 357 employees, an average salary, with benefits, of $64,000 per employee. In 2009, 172 city employees made $50,000 or more and 21 made $100,000 or more in salaries, without benefits. The per capita income in Fort Pierce, according to the 2010 census, is below the poverty level at $17,700.

In 2009, about $1 million taxpayer dollars were spent as an incentive to reduce the workforce. Actual layoffs in that year were less than 10. No employee has had a reduction in pay. The nine-day mandated furlough program took place in fiscal 2011 so there would be no pay cuts and no lost jobs.

City employees get a minimum of 35 paid leave days a year, and carry over unused sick and vacation leave. When they retire, up to 18 weeks of unused sick, and six weeks of unused vacation, leave can be paid to them in a lump sum, an amount calculated into their pension earnings. A holiday bonus already is paid to employees when they receive up to six days pay every November for unused sick leave.

City employees earn 3 percent of their salary toward their pension for each year of employment. The pension is calculated based on their highest earnings and can include overtime, sick and vacation leave payments. The employees pay 5 percent of their salary into their pension plan, while the taxpayer pays more than twice that, to fulfill the obligation of pensions for life. Shortfalls are always made up by the taxpayer.

For the first time, city employees now pay a portion of their own health insurance. Currently, they share the cost of their dependent health insurance equally with the taxpayer.

While city employees point out they haven't had raises in several years, those in the private sector have lost jobs or experienced reduced salaries and increased benefit costs. City employees maintain that they now have less in their paycheck because they have been asked to pay $25 per pay period for health insurance; most nongovernment workers have never had 100 percent of their health insurance costs paid. Seniors on Medicare now pay $99 monthly for health insurance.

The mayor says the holiday bonuses were his idea and symbolize appreciation for a tough year. The taxpayer may feel those bonuses symbolize a commission out of touch with the people who elected them.