Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Pleasanton, police union reach tentative agreement on new contract


By Robert Jordan
Updated:   01/31/2012 08:44:48 PM PST

In a continuing effort to corral its mounting pension obligation, Pleasanton reached a tentative agreement with its police union that includes all officers paying their share of retirement costs.

The city and the Pleasanton Police Officers' Association, which consists of 73 sworn police employees, reached the two-year agreement after six months of negotiations. The City Council still must approve the deal and held its first public meeting on the contract Tuesday.

The new deal requires all officers to start paying 3 percent toward their CalPERS pension once the deal is approved, and then 6 percent in July 2012 and the full 9 percent by July 2013.

The police union's current deal expired in May 2011 and had the city paying the officers' 9 percent as well as its own 24.1 percent share.

"In the public discussion we had related to the budget, we talked about reducing our expenses, and one of most effective ways is for employees to pick up the 9 percent," said Julie Yuan-Miu, Pleasanton's assistant city manager and lead negotiator. "That was our goal, and we were very pleased with POA that they worked with us."

The new deal is expected to save the city $2.4 million through the 2013-14 fiscal year. The contract also includes a two-tier system for new employees who can retire at age 55 with 3 percent of their highest annual pay multiplied by their years of service, instead of the current 3 percent at 50 rule. New employees also will have their retiree medical benefits changed, with only the employee being covered until age 65, at which point the employee moves to Medicare. Current retiree medical benefits cover the employee and spouse.

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Posted by Steve Sinai

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pacifica Police have been paying the 9% share for many years. In their last contract they agreed to pay an additional 3% as a concession to the budget shortfalls. Pacifica Police get $1022 a month toward medical compared to $1565 that Pleasanton Police get. Pacifica Police do not get full medical after retirement for themselves, much less their spouse or family. Pleasanton Police do get some medical after retirement coverage.
All facts can be confirmed through both city websites.

Anonymous said...

The salaries on the back page of the Tribune show that Pacifica's employees are paid fairly consistently in the bottom quadrant in the county.

Anonymous said...

Tell this to Todd Bray, who calls city workers, policemen, firemen grand larcenists!!!!!

Anonymous said...

We ought to be dead last on that list since we're dead broke.