Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type: REGULAR AGENDA (ACTION)
To: City Council
Subject: Adoption of the Amended City Wide Salary Schedule for Fiscal Year 2022/23 Date: August 09, 2022
Written by: Damien O'Bid, City Manager
Recommendation
It is recommended that the City Council adopt the following; Side Letters for the CEA, CPOA, and CPMA; the amended Non-Represented Confidential and Management Employees Compensation Plan; and the corresponding revised fiscal year 2022/23 salary schedule.
Background
The unrepresented employees are generally confidential or managerial employees that are not represented by a union. The current Unrepresented Compensation Plan, created in 2017, included a 5-year set of inflationary adjustments (aka Cost of Living Adjustments or COLAs), with the final cost of living adjustment in July 2021. Since no further inflationary adjustments were included, it initiated a conversation with these employees about future adjustments and other related elements of the Compensation Plan. This was made more acute by extraordinary inflation in 2023, primarily driven by food and fuel prices. The annual (June to June) San Francisco Bay Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was 6.8%, reflecting the highest inflation rates since the dot com bubble in 2002, which also significantly exceeded the cost-of-living increase (2.5%) that represented groups of employees received in the current fiscal year (FY 22-23).
In addition to the shorter-term inflationary pressures, the City is also operating in a challenging labor market, driven by the high cost of living and residual effects of COVID-19 on the economy.
While the unrepresented employees was the primary focus of labor discussions, given the extraordinary inflation this year, it was recognized that it was in the best interest of the City to provide one-time assistance to represented groups in the effort to retain our good employees.
For transparency as well as effective and efficient financial reporting, City staff have prepared the updated annual complete salary schedule for fiscal year 2022/23.
Analysis/Discussion
The City of Cotati has three separate bargaining units; the Cotati Employees Association (CEA), the Cotati Police Officers Association (CPOA), and the Cotati Police Management Association (CPMA), as well as the Non-Represented group and a single employment agreement with the City Manager.
The amended salary schedule includes the changes in all agreements outlined as follows:
All Bargaining Units:
As a result of continuing inflation, the City is proposing a supplemental 1% to increase the cost- ofliving adjustment for Fiscal Year 2022-2023 as well as an increased Life Insurance benefit from $100,000 to $150,000.
The agreements are proposed to begin in the current payroll cycle (August 1), rather than the start of the fiscal year. This is because current agreements (POA/PMA/CEA) and unrepresented groups are generally not permitted to be retroactive unless term has expired (represented groups) or there is an exceptional circumstance (unrepresented).
Cotati Employees Association:
Given the extraordinary inflation this year, the proposed amendment applies equity adjustments to the base salaries for positions that were significantly below the small city median but were not addressed in the current contract. Additionally, the Maintenance III job position, which is intended to be a foreman position, as well as the Accounting Technician, were adjusted for internal alignment and succession planning. Neither position is currently filled.
Cotati Police Officers Association (CPOA):
This amendment updates the timing of holiday pay, to align with CalPERS reporting requirements.
Cotati Police Management Association (CPMA):
This amendment updates the timing of holiday pay, to align with CalPERS reporting requirements.
Non-Represented Employees
While the Non-Represented Compensation Plan doesn’t expire, the final cost of living adjustment was in July 2021. In summary, the following changes were made to update the plan:
- Section 4.01.A - Equity adjustments by job titles amending the base salaries to align at the median of the small cities in the region as well as internal alignment. - Section 4.01.B - Set current and future cost of living adjustments consistent with other bargaining units for a period of five (5) years.
- Section 4.02.B - Amend the Longevity to align non-management positions with other negotiated unions and separate the management positions to address desire to minimize disruption and cost due to management turnover and keep institutional knowledge of City operations and strategic project pursuits.
- Section 4.02.C - Revise Certificate supplemental pay for the Police Lieutenant to specify Management POST.
- Section 4.03 - Increase annual uniform reimbursement allowance for the Public Works Superintendent from $250 to $300 and increase the annual uniform allowance for the Police Chief and Lieutenant from $800 to $1,000.
- Sections 5.02.A, 7, Revise Holiday-In-Lieu, Life Insurance, and Constructive Receipts to align with legal requirements and other bargaining units. - Section 8 – Include the Recreation Manager in the listed managerial positions with 40 Hours of admin leave per year.
- Section 10.03C - Subject to the revisions for Constructive receipt the agreement also amends the “Leave Cash Out” to allow the cash out of up to annual accrual amount, provided that a minimum of 80 hours remains available.
Additionally, there was some general cleanup of the compensation plan. The redline/strikeout changes to all of the groups described above are attached to accompanying resolution.
Financial Considerations
Based on modeling the proposed changes, it is anticipated that all of the proposed changes will result in a total increase in labor costs of $188,000 per year, assuming all positions are filled.
Based on historical trends (2017-2022), looking at the two largest sources of revenue (sales and property tax), revenue grew by approximately $480,000 each year. Additionally, the City has been also strategically developing cannabis and lodging to supplement revenues and provide new sources to accelerate infrastructure work and improve services to the community. While revenue is always subject to fluctuation based on economic cycles, it is expected that the proposed labor agreement changes are sufficiently conservative to ensure that other city priorities can continue to be met while retaining good employees in a challenging labor market.
There are no budgetary adjustments required at this time due to conservative budgeting and staffing vacancies. With the mid-year evaluation, the Administrative Services Department will supply an analysis of any proposed budgetary adjustments.
Environmental Issues
This action is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because it is not a project which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment, pursuant to CEQA Guideline section 15378.