Amador County – Ione City Council on Tuesday accepted employee bargaining unit concessions and reductions and also put in place an early retirement plan, giving employees until Dec. 16 to decide if they want to participate.

Ione City Clerk Janice Traverso said the council accepted concessions and reductions from the Service Employees International Union and from the Ione Police Officers Association, as well as the individual concessions from the police chief, finance manager, and others. The council also approved a Public Association Retirement System program.

The cutoff date for enrolling in the retirement programs was originally Nov. 16, but employees requested more time, and were given it, Traverso said. Employees have until Dec. 16 to make a decision on the early retirement. “If they go ahead with it, the early retirements would be effective Jan. 30, 2012.”

She said the council made no layoffs, because they want to see who will take the early retirements. She said she originally took furloughs in the management confidential unit, but she is now a part of SEIU. Employees in both areas are taking furlough days, as the city looks to cut its General Fund budget.

In a report to the council for the meeting, Interim City Manager Jeff Butzlaff said: “Given our objective to come as close as possible in annual General Fund reductions to $600,000, it is clear that this cannot be achieved” by “non-layoff General Fund concessions and reductions, which get us only halfway there.”

He said Police Chief Michael L. Johnson’s “budget deficit strategy includes layoffs of his part time extra help, a Community Police Assistant, and his full time Records Clerk, who is “one of four city employees eligible to retire from PERS under the Public Association Retirement System “Supplementary Retirement Plan.”

The savings from the retirements would be $324,000 for the early retirement of the Records Clerk, Street and Park Maintenance Supervisor, Building Inspector/Public Works Project Manager, and Administrative Assistant/City Clerk.

Butzlaff summarized non-layoff General Fund cost reductions, which include organizational unit reductions by employees; individual employee concessions; operational reductions; and an extension of Measure M revenues to “fully cover all staff costs.” Total non-salary cuts are $295,000.

He said “to the extent that retirements do not occur, and we fall short of the $300,000 staff reduction goal, layoffs will become inevitable.” Per city employment MOUs, “seniority applies within each job classification or series, such as Street and Park Maintenance positions and Police Officers.” Butzlaff said “others are one-position classifications, such as Building Inspector/Public Works Project Supervisor; the Records Clerk; City Clerk/Administrative Assistant; and Mechanic.”

Butzlaff said if early retirements are taken, the need would still be there to get the jobs done, which could lead to contracting or some partial retirement.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.