Five of the top 10 paid Manteca municipal employees in 2008 were not department heads. They were police sergeants including two who made more than the police chief.
City Manager Steve Pinkerton led the list with $192,804. Right behind him in the No. 2 and No. 3 spots were police sergeants with one making $176,432 and the other $174,034. The two sergeants between them pocketed $95,258 or enough to pay the salary of a police officer plus a big chunk of their benefits.
Overall, six police sergeants earned $252,235 in overtime in 2008. Since they are supervisory front-line officers they are entitled to overtime while department heads such as the police chief and certain management personnel such as police lieutenants and captains are not.
Altogether, the top 25 when it came to pay for City of Manteca employees included 11 from the police department including four police officer II positions. It included one police officer who made $150,583 including $54,437 in overtime pay. That overtime pay would cover the salary of a parks worker and all of their benefits.
Overall, the 10 police positions in the Top 25 that were not exempt from overtime earned $487,834 in overtime pay in 2008 or an average of $48,783 apiece.
There were seven fire department positions in the top 25 list including one fire captain who grossed $159,890 which was more than the fire chief at the time who earned $157,896. The fire chief and division chiefs are exempt from overtime as they are management while fire captains – like police sergeants – are frontline supervisory personnel and are paid overtime.
The six fire captains in the Top 25 earned $162,185 in overtime during 2008. Just under a third of that or $49,800 in overtime was paid by the state for mutual aid for those who were sent to major fires throughout California.
The strategy crafted by the city manager at the direction of the City Council to bridge the $14 million deficit caused by a substantial drop-off in property taxes, sales tax and over revenue coupled with four-year contracts with employee bargaining groups that had pre-negotiated annual wages was to treat all municipal employees equally as well as do whatever possible to keep servcie levels up to par.
The first step was for all employees – management included – to take a 3.8 percent across-the-board pay cut in the form of unpaid furlough days. The first three furlough days – Monday through Wednesday – coupled with Thanksgiving and the city holiday on Friday means City Hall will be closed for business until Monday, Nov. 30. Essential services such as police and fire are still operating.
Current Police Chief Dave Bricker reorganized the police department and created a lieutenant’s position which is exempt from overtime. That has helped slash overtime costs by about $60,000. The chief also instituted a policy – with the full cooperation of line officers – to leave paperwork on less pressing cases undone if they run out of time on a shift and simply pick up on it where they left off on their next workday. If a major case is underway officers keep working. Officers are often called to court to testify on their days off which incurs overtime as well.
The cost of the triple overtime can be hefty. For example, a Manteca Police Officer I position that receives $296.95 per regular 10-hour shift would receive $890.05 for working any one of those three holidays. A Manteca Police Officer II normally paid $421.59 would receive holiday pay of $1,264.62 for a 10-hour shift. A sergeant working on a regular shift would receive $557.68. On Christmas, the Fourth of July of Thanksgiving the pay jumps to $1,673.04.
On other holidays such as Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day and the day after Thanksgiving Manteca’s public safety employees receive 2.5 times their regular pay as overtime.
City shift workers – such as lab technicians at the wastewater plan that must be on site every day of the year - get two and a half times in overtime pay on any holiday they work that they aren’t normally scheduled to work that day. If it is a scheduled work day it is double overtime.
The day after Thanksgiving was negotiated as a holiday in all of the contracts and not just public safety. It is paid straight time unless the municipal employee has to work and then it is either double or 2.5 times the going rate depending upon their bargain unit’s contract.
California does not impose any holiday payment obligation on private sector employees. They also do not have to provide time off for legal holidays or give employees additional compensation if they are required to work on a state-recognized holiday.
Current Fire Chief Kirk Waters has also instituted staffing changes to curtail overtime. The biggest budget relief, though, came from the Manteca Firefighters Association agreeing to give up mandatory staffing of three firefighters per engine company. Now, if manpower drops due to sickness or vacation, the rescue squad will be idled first. Then, if two or more positions are vacant on a shift, the engine company at the Union Road station would be idled keeping the aerial company housed at the same station in service. It translates into a loss of overtime averaging $12,000 a firefighter.
All the bargaining groups except for the Manteca Police Officers Association opted for giving up pay increases instead of layoffs. The city – which has no authority to cut pay since it was negotiated and in a signed contract – went ahead based on the MPOA decision and laid off 12 police officers.
The MPOA leadership rejected the latest city offer that Pinkerton said he expects to be the last for the current fiscal year.
That offer would have forfeited the 4 percent pay increases on both Jan. 1, 2010, and Jan. 1, 2011. It kept the police’s $1,000 a year uniform allowance intact and also did not seek to reduce the city’s 100 percent coverage of retirement contributions for officers.
In exchange, six furloughed officers would have been brought back to work.
The proposed side letter also included another major concession. That was the next total compensation survey for the next contract that starts on Jan. 1, 2012 would have used the same eight municipal agencies that the city and department agreed to use to established current total compensation package.
It was a big concession to officers as there is a growing sentiment to drop Bay Area cities and even those cities from the Sacramento area out of the survey. In doing so, the expectation is the compensation packages that Manteca compares with would be significantly lower. Manteca traditionally has offered contracts based on the mid-range of the data gleaned from such surveys.
The City Council – which includes all incumbents except Debby Moorhead who was not in office at the time – agreed to the current contract to put Manteca municipal workers on equal footing with comparable cities. It was a contract made in good times that sought to increase compensation to avoid a drain of workers from heading east over the Altamont Pass to work for Bay Area cities for more money.
City Manager Steve Pinkerton led the list with $192,804. Right behind him in the No. 2 and No. 3 spots were police sergeants with one making $176,432 and the other $174,034. The two sergeants between them pocketed $95,258 or enough to pay the salary of a police officer plus a big chunk of their benefits.
Overall, six police sergeants earned $252,235 in overtime in 2008. Since they are supervisory front-line officers they are entitled to overtime while department heads such as the police chief and certain management personnel such as police lieutenants and captains are not.
Altogether, the top 25 when it came to pay for City of Manteca employees included 11 from the police department including four police officer II positions. It included one police officer who made $150,583 including $54,437 in overtime pay. That overtime pay would cover the salary of a parks worker and all of their benefits.
Overall, the 10 police positions in the Top 25 that were not exempt from overtime earned $487,834 in overtime pay in 2008 or an average of $48,783 apiece.
There were seven fire department positions in the top 25 list including one fire captain who grossed $159,890 which was more than the fire chief at the time who earned $157,896. The fire chief and division chiefs are exempt from overtime as they are management while fire captains – like police sergeants – are frontline supervisory personnel and are paid overtime.
The six fire captains in the Top 25 earned $162,185 in overtime during 2008. Just under a third of that or $49,800 in overtime was paid by the state for mutual aid for those who were sent to major fires throughout California.
Personnel costs are 85% of budget
Salaries represent 85 percent of the general fund expenses with public safety accounting for 62.96 cents of every general fund dollar spent. Police services account for 45.08 percent of the general fund budget and fire services 17.84 percent.The strategy crafted by the city manager at the direction of the City Council to bridge the $14 million deficit caused by a substantial drop-off in property taxes, sales tax and over revenue coupled with four-year contracts with employee bargaining groups that had pre-negotiated annual wages was to treat all municipal employees equally as well as do whatever possible to keep servcie levels up to par.
The first step was for all employees – management included – to take a 3.8 percent across-the-board pay cut in the form of unpaid furlough days. The first three furlough days – Monday through Wednesday – coupled with Thanksgiving and the city holiday on Friday means City Hall will be closed for business until Monday, Nov. 30. Essential services such as police and fire are still operating.
Current Police Chief Dave Bricker reorganized the police department and created a lieutenant’s position which is exempt from overtime. That has helped slash overtime costs by about $60,000. The chief also instituted a policy – with the full cooperation of line officers – to leave paperwork on less pressing cases undone if they run out of time on a shift and simply pick up on it where they left off on their next workday. If a major case is underway officers keep working. Officers are often called to court to testify on their days off which incurs overtime as well.
Triple overtime for Thanksgiving generates $1,673 for police sergeant for working a 10-hour shift
Police also get triple time for working Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the Fourth of July.The cost of the triple overtime can be hefty. For example, a Manteca Police Officer I position that receives $296.95 per regular 10-hour shift would receive $890.05 for working any one of those three holidays. A Manteca Police Officer II normally paid $421.59 would receive holiday pay of $1,264.62 for a 10-hour shift. A sergeant working on a regular shift would receive $557.68. On Christmas, the Fourth of July of Thanksgiving the pay jumps to $1,673.04.
On other holidays such as Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day and the day after Thanksgiving Manteca’s public safety employees receive 2.5 times their regular pay as overtime.
City shift workers – such as lab technicians at the wastewater plan that must be on site every day of the year - get two and a half times in overtime pay on any holiday they work that they aren’t normally scheduled to work that day. If it is a scheduled work day it is double overtime.
The day after Thanksgiving was negotiated as a holiday in all of the contracts and not just public safety. It is paid straight time unless the municipal employee has to work and then it is either double or 2.5 times the going rate depending upon their bargain unit’s contract.
California does not impose any holiday payment obligation on private sector employees. They also do not have to provide time off for legal holidays or give employees additional compensation if they are required to work on a state-recognized holiday.
Current Fire Chief Kirk Waters has also instituted staffing changes to curtail overtime. The biggest budget relief, though, came from the Manteca Firefighters Association agreeing to give up mandatory staffing of three firefighters per engine company. Now, if manpower drops due to sickness or vacation, the rescue squad will be idled first. Then, if two or more positions are vacant on a shift, the engine company at the Union Road station would be idled keeping the aerial company housed at the same station in service. It translates into a loss of overtime averaging $12,000 a firefighter.
Latest offer sought to bring back six furloughed officers
The final $2 million of the budget deficit was covered by giving each bargaining group the option of having members laid off or to forgo previously negotiated pay raises in 2010 and 2011 plus for employees to pay more into their retirement account and in return reduce the city’s contributionAll the bargaining groups except for the Manteca Police Officers Association opted for giving up pay increases instead of layoffs. The city – which has no authority to cut pay since it was negotiated and in a signed contract – went ahead based on the MPOA decision and laid off 12 police officers.
The MPOA leadership rejected the latest city offer that Pinkerton said he expects to be the last for the current fiscal year.
That offer would have forfeited the 4 percent pay increases on both Jan. 1, 2010, and Jan. 1, 2011. It kept the police’s $1,000 a year uniform allowance intact and also did not seek to reduce the city’s 100 percent coverage of retirement contributions for officers.
In exchange, six furloughed officers would have been brought back to work.
The proposed side letter also included another major concession. That was the next total compensation survey for the next contract that starts on Jan. 1, 2012 would have used the same eight municipal agencies that the city and department agreed to use to established current total compensation package.
It was a big concession to officers as there is a growing sentiment to drop Bay Area cities and even those cities from the Sacramento area out of the survey. In doing so, the expectation is the compensation packages that Manteca compares with would be significantly lower. Manteca traditionally has offered contracts based on the mid-range of the data gleaned from such surveys.
The City Council – which includes all incumbents except Debby Moorhead who was not in office at the time – agreed to the current contract to put Manteca municipal workers on equal footing with comparable cities. It was a contract made in good times that sought to increase compensation to avoid a drain of workers from heading east over the Altamont Pass to work for Bay Area cities for more money.
