Monday, November 13, 2006 9:58 PM PST

Board signs pact on county workers' pay, benefits

By: Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer

Placer County employees and the Board of Supervisors have inked a new four-year contract that includes across-the-board raises for workers through 2010.

And supervisors have also given their approval to some hefty hikes for other elected officials that a taxpayers watchdog group leader described Monday as "phony."

Under a pact approved by the Board of Supervisors, all employees will also be paying a share of their county-provided health-care costs for the first time.

Under terms of a memorandum of understanding, members of the Placer Public Employees Organization bargaining group will receive a four percent salary hike retroactive to last June 24 -- just before the previous four-year contract ran out.

A three percent increase will follow Jan. 6, followed by another five percent hike on Nov. 10. Raises in 2008 and 2009 will be based on the consumer price index increases in the state and range from a minimum of 2.5 percent to five percent.

Supervisors have been dealing with negotiations for the past four months in closed sessions and voted 5-0 to adopt a resolution approving the Placer Public Employees Contract contract. The raises for elected officials -- as well as several increases for upper-level managers -- found opposition from Supervisor Bruce Kranz but passed on 4-1 votes. The decisions were made on an Election Day meeting with fewer than 20 people in the room.

Supervisor Ted Gaines described the terms Tuesday as generous but said the key to the new agreement was the use of a new health-insurance cost-sharing agreement to provide money to cover future expenses for retiree benefit obligations.

Under the agreement, employees will now pay 10 percent of their health-plan costs and the county will place a matching amount in a trust fund to cover an estimated $328 million in future retiree benefit obligations.

"In the long term, it provides stability," Gaines said.

Supervisor Kranz was the lone board member opposing increases for managers and elected officials that matched union members' raises but also included additional increases. Kranz said he would vote against the additional increases - described as salary equity adjustments - because he hadn't been given information pointing out the justification behind them.

Among the larger increases were to Auditor Controller Katherine Martinis, Treasurer-Tax Collector Janine Windeshausen and County Clerk Jim McCauley. On top of the 12 percent aggregate raise they will see by January, they will also get a salary boost of 7.5 percent, plus another 3.75 percent next July and a further 3.75 percent in July 2008.

Sheriff Ed Bonner and District Attorney Brad Fenocchio are also in line for 7.5 percent equity adjustment. Supervisors are limited to a $30,000 annual salary by a voter-approved measure.

Equity adjustments were also determined for 46 upper management posts, with 20 topping out at five percent and some including increases in the next two years. Gaines said he was comfortable with increases in upper-management salary adjustments because of the competition among private- and public-sector employers for top-level managers but less comfortable with adjusting elected officials salaries even more with salary equity adjustments.

County Executive Officer Tom Miller said the salary adjustments reflect similar positions in similar growth counties to Placer and were part of an effort to bring pay in line with other counties that started last year with an adjustment to Assessor Bruce Dear's pay.

The 15-percent increases are warranted because if the benchmarks are lowered, the positions won't be filled, he said.

"It's also recognizing the caliber of these folks," Miller said.

Noting that the adjustments for elected officials were all at the same percentage rate, Taxpayers League of Placer County Vice President Dan Sokol described the increases as "phony."

"They're obviously not equity adjustments because every position has a different competitive salary level," Sokol said.

As far as competing with other employers for talent, Sokol said he doubts the elected officials are unhappy with their jobs.

Noting the construction of new buildings and development of new parks over the last several months, Supervisor Jim Holmes said credit at contract time should be given to county employees and managers "doing the work."

"We're doing a lot of good things," Holmes said. "Placer County is in a very good position to even consider this."

Supervisor Bill Santucci described the compensation for elected officials as "just." With no acrimony among the different divisions and a group who goes to work every day, Santucci said the 15 percent in adjustments along with the 12 percent in initial raises were justified.

The Journal's Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com.