Call it a 10 percent tourniquet. Ceres is crimping pay by 10 percent across the board to contain $1 million in red ink.
When all the labor agreements are in place, the city's payroll will be reduced by at least the $1 million required, said Art de Werk, chief of police/deputy city manager.
The cuts were made while preserving "as much service as absolutely possible," he said.
Four employee groups' contracts were accepted at Monday's council meeting and the remaining two employee groups are on the agenda for the June 28 meeting, said Mike Borges. One group has not yet ratified their contract. The "miscellaneous" group, representing city workers from clerical to custodial to community service officers, is expected to vote Thursday, Borges said.
Borges' official title is deputy police chief/interim human resources manager. That loading-on of duties is another part of the Ceres solution.
De Werk said he took on his second job title last year, a promotion that should have included a 10 percent to 15 percent raise, with no increase in pay. In essence, he took his pay cut ahead of time. Every nonunion employee has shared in the 10 percent sacrifice, including City Manager Brad Kil-ger, de Werk said.
"We've been buried," de Werk said. "But, we're all pulling together as a team. ... You do what you have to do. We're not going to quibble about compensation at a time like this."
The second group on the June 28 agenda is police, who accepted a 10 percent reduction parsed between paying part of the city's retirement contribution and eliminating unused sick and holiday pay cashouts, Borges said.
Each employee group managed the cut in a different way, Borges said. These are the four approved contracts:
Firefighters gained a choice of taking overtime as time off, a new title (engineer) at the lowest rank, and the creation of a joint management-union advisory committee — a first for Ceres. They gave up 2 percent in salary, all of their uniform allowance and pay for holidays, for a 10 percent total package.
Public safety managers will lose 10 percent by paying toward their retirement, and giving up holiday pay, training and payback for unused sick days.
Middle managers, including the city clerk, engineers and administrative supervisors, gave up training and 13 days of holiday pay and will take 13 unpaid furlough days.
Confidential employees in sensitive accounting positions will lose 12 holidays and take 13 furlough days.
The City Council will meet June 28 at 7 p.m. in the council chamber, 2701 Fourth St.
Bee staff writer Nan Austin can be reached at naustin@modbee.com or 578-2339.
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