City Council Approves Two-Tier Retirement System for Fire Dept. Union

The La Mesa City Council meeting lasted less than an hour Tuesday as members of the board approved a resolution to a labor contract between the city and Firefighters Local 4759.

The action, which takes effect in October, was approved by a 4-0 vote, with Mayor Art Madrid on vacation.

The labor contract, known as the 2011-12 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), provides for a two-tier pension plan that increases the age new hires will begin to receive pension benefits. This is the third of three MOUs to be approved; those regarding the city employees’ association and the police department union went into effect last year.

“I think that the employee groups and the city understood that we needed to make some movement in order to contain pension cost,” said Yvonne Garrett, acting city manager with City Manager Dave Witt on vacatioin, after the meeting.

“And through a dialog at the table, we were able to come to an agreement. It actually was, I think, very civil discourse, but it also was a sign of the times.”

Richard Dukellis, the city’s director of administrative services, said the civility is also an indication of the low number of new hires.

“We don’t hire a lot of people,” he said. “I think this past year was exceptionally high when we hired four firefighters. So it’s looking long term―if a firefighter has a 30-year career, there’s not a lot of turnover in the fire service.”

In fact, due to the rate of attrition, the usual number of department hires ranges from two to three each year, according to Heartland Fire & Rescue Chief Mike Scott.

“Given these difficult economic conditions, I appreciate the willingness of the firefighters to reach an agreement that is in the best interest of the community, the city and the firefighters they represent,” Scott said via email.

The memorandum states that the city of La Mesa will make a contribution of 3 percent of an employee’s earnings to his or her retirement fund, a number determined by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), while employees are required to contribute 9 percent of their salary. According to the contract, the retirement pay will be computed on the year in which the highest base pay is recorded.

Dukellis said the city has been a pioneer when it comes to shifting more of the pension costs to employees.

“Two years ago we were one of the first agencies to negotiate employees to pay their own share of the retirement,” he said. “That was the first tough step; the second was going to the second tier.”

A second-tier provision is an additional step toward alleviating the city’s fiscal responsibility. For those hired after Oct. 1, 2011, pension distribution will begin at age 55, whereas current members of the department, and those hired on or before Sept. 30, will start receiving their stipend at 50.

Councilman Ernie Ewin said he believes the resolution negotiations have been fair, highlighting a “non-PERSable” stipend in the amount of $500. The stipend will be paid this month to each of the department’s employees, regardless of rank, and is provided in lieu of a raise.

The contract states a second $500 will be given at the end of the fiscal pay period as long as the city’s expenditures are 2 percent below their target.

“We can’t be passing salary increases because we’re not assured of what the future is going to be or how it’s going to be structured,” Ewin said. “And, again, this is just one time. [The stipends] may not be here next year; something else may be here next year.”

Dexter Levy, a third-generation La Mesan who frequents the council meetings, said he strongly believes in pension reform, but suggested it was something that should be done at the state level.

“I don’t think it’s something the City of La Mesa should take on,” he said.

Ewin disagrees, saying that the responsibility in this case should, and does, fall squarely on the shoulders of the city.

“It’s the only way we can handle it, because that’s our job,” he said. “They’re not state employees; they are the City of La Mesa’s employees with that bargaining unit.”

Updated at 11:40 a.m. Wednesday, July 13, 2011.