HomeMy WebLinkAboutEmailed Comments from Robert GoldbergGloria Harper
From: Robert Goldberg <rgoldberg@live.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 25, 20216:28 PM
To: Thomas Moore; Schelly Sustarsic; Mike Varipapa; Sandra Massa-Lavitt; Joe Kalmick
Cc: Jill Ingram; Gloria Harper; Charles M. Kelly; Jeannette Andruss; Kelly Telford; Phil
Gonshak; Patrick Gallegos
Subject: Questions & Comments for Council Meeting 7/26/21
Attachments: 7.26.21.Questions.Open Session.doc; Rec Special ist.Class Comp 2017.pdf
Dear Council and Staff,
Please see the attached questions and comments for this Monday's Council meeting. I have attached one
referenced document.
Thank you for your consideration and service,
Robert Goldberg
Questions & Comments for 7/26/21 Meeting from Robert Goldberg
Item J: Reclassification of Three Part -Time Rec Coordinators to Full Time Rec Saecialists
The staff report states that "As a part of the Fiscal Year 2021-22 Adopted Budget, these
positions were moved from the part-time employee budget to the full-time employee budget
to reflect their proper classification." However, as I informed the Council in my 5/25/21
comments, this "moving" was not included in the presentation slides of recommended staffing
changes at the May 13th budget workshop. Furthermore, at no time during the budget process
did staff present the cost of this conversion to the Council or public.
With tonight's staff report, the mystery continues as the Financial Impact section only states
that the "salary and benefits for these positions are included in the FY 21-22 Adopted Budget." I
find this lack of transparency to be unacceptable, and prevents the Council from doing its due
diligence as the steward of taxpayer dollars. To assist the Council in this effort, I offer the
financial assessment and recommendations below.
The minimum cost of transitioning three Rec Coordinators working 40 hrs/week part-time to full-
time Rec Specialists can be estimated by comparing costs at their current maximum salary (Step
5) to the lowest salary (Step 1) in the new proposed salary range, and adding in enhanced
benefits. As shown in the chart below, staff is proposing to raise the salaries of these employees
by a minimum of 37%, from $3307 to $4545/month. Additionally, with the change to full-time
employment, these employees will now get flex dollar allowances for health insurance and
CalPERS membership. The resulting total annual cost (salary & benefits) for these employees will
rise by a minimum of 91%. Consequently, the minimum increased annual cost of staff's proposal
is $111,769. This cost can be expected to rise in subsequent years as these employees are eligible
to receive 5% annual step raises. Ultimately, the increased annual cost may reach $162,194 (in FY
21-22 dollars) upon attainment of Step 5. This could occur within four years.
Total Annual
Monthly Annual Annual Cost per Total Cost for
Classification
Step
Salary
Salary
Benefits*
Employee
3 Employees
Part -Time Recreation
Coordinator
Step 5
$3,307
$39,686
$1,052
$40,738
$122,214
Full-time Recreation
Proposed
$4,545
$54,541
$23,453
$77,994
$233,983
Specialist
Step 1
(Grade 8)
37%
Increase from PT
91%
$111,769
Proposed
$5,525
$66,296
$28,507
$94,803
$284,408
Step 5
(Grade 8)
67%
Increase from PT
133%
$162,194
*PARS retirement & Medicare costs for Part -Time, Full -Time benefits estimated at 40% of salary
The staff report states the rationale for the conversion to full-time is that the three employees
have been "assigned 40 -hour work weeks over the past few years." This may justify making
them full-time. However, it does not provide the basis for an immediate 37% increase in
salaries. In fact, the employees could be transitioned to full-time with no increase in salary. The
rational basis for a salary increase would be a comparative salary analysis of similar positions at
similar cities.
In fact, this analysis was done in 2017 for the position of Rec Specialist (proposed new full-time
classification) by Koff & Associates as part of their citywide Classification and Compensation
Study. The Study found that our top monthly salary of $3149 for part-time Rec Specialist was
just under the comparator median of $3286 (see attached). The top salary of our part-time Rec
Coordinators (current employees being transitioned) of $3307 would have been just above this
median. Therefore, this study provides objective evidence that, at least in 2017, no salary
increase would have been justified in transitioning our part-time Rec Coordinators to full-time
Rec Specialists.
The Council could request that Koff & Associates repeat this analysis to bring it up-to-date.
However, the part-time salaries for our Rec Coordinators have not increased since July 2016,
and therefore, their current top monthly salary of $3307 has probably fallen below the median
for Rec Specialists at the comparator cities. An alternative to a repeat study would be to simply
increase the salary for inflation. The July 2016 salary was based on local inflation through April
2016. Inflation from that point in time through April 2021 has been 15.1%. An equivalent raise
would take the top monthly salary to $3806.
Our current full-time pay schedule does not have any salaries established below Grade 8 ($4545
for Step 1). Presumably, this is why staff is recommending assigning the new full-time class of
Rec Specialist to Grade 8. However, the Council has the discretion to establish lower salaries at
lower Grades. This can be done very simply by applying the desirable 2.5% intervals between
Grades. Using this method yields a Grade 1, Step 1 salary of $3824, just above the inflation-
adjusted salary (Step 5) of our current employees. A Grade 1 salary for our Rec Coordinators
transitioning to Rec Specialists would be both equitable for the employees and very competitive
with other cities. With future step raises, our employees' top monthly salary has the potential
to be higher than all of the comparator cities in the Koff study except for Huntington Beach.
Placement in Grade 1 would also save taxpayers a significant amount of money. The Table
below shows that the minimum annual savings (at Step 1) to be over $37,000 per year.
Total Annual
Annual Annual Cost per Total Cost for
Grade
Step
Monthly Salary
Salary Benefits
Employee
3 Employees
Proposed
Step 1
$4,545
$54,541 $23,453
$77,994
$233,983
Grade 8 Salary
Step 5
$5,525
$66,296 $28,507
$94,803
$284,408
Alternative
$3,824
$45,884 $19,730
$65,614
$196,841
Grade 1 Salary
Step 1
16%
Savings vs. Grade 8
16%
$37,141
$4,648
$55,772 $23,982
$79,754
$239,262
Step 5
16%
Savings vs. Grade 8
16%
$45,146
Recommendation: Instead of placement at Grade 8, place the new full-time classification
of Recreation Specialist at Grade 1, and establish a monthly salary range of $3824 to
$4648. This would provide the impacted employees with a very competitive and fair
15.6% pay raise, while at the same time, not burdening taxpayers with staff's
recommendation for a 37% increase.
Item M: Police Contracts
The Financial Impact section states that a "retro pay adjustment" of an estimated $237,000 will
be necessary to cover the first year costs of the contracts. It also states that the "total
estimated budgetary impact over the three-year contract(s) is $715,800.
This three-year figure is obviously way too low, since it is only a few thousand more than the
three-year cumulative cost of the COLA and benefit enhancements granted in year one (3 X
$237,000 = $711,000). After adding in 3% COLA's in years two and three, I would estimate the
minimum three-year cumulative cost of the contracts to be over $1.5 million:
2% COLA
Fiscal Effective
Year Julv'20
Increased Officer
Uniform Allowance
($300/year) Plus
$400/year for
Records Supervisor
Effective Julv'20
Increased Flex
Dollar Allowance
(assumes all
employees have
2+ dependents)
Effective January
3% COLA 3% COLA
Effective Effective
Julv'21 Julv'22 Total
2020-21
$157,501
$12,100
$67,399
Not applicable
Not applicable
$237,000
2021-22
$157,501
$12,100
$134,798
$236,251
Notapplicable
$540,650
2022-23
$157,501
$12,100
$134,798
$236,251
$236,251
$776,902
Total 3 -Year Cost of Contracts $1,554,552
The calculation above assumes that all employees have 2+ dependents, and thus, receive the
maximum increase in their monthly flex dollar allowance to purchase health care. While it is not
likely that all 40 employees covered by these contracts have 2+ dependents, assuming
otherwise only increases my estimate of the three-year cost. This happens because I derived
the COLA portion of the first year $237,000 cost by subtracting the fixed costs of the uniform
allowance and flex dollar increases. The lower these fixed costs, the higher the cost attributable
to COLA's in both year one and later years. This is demonstrated below in a calculation which
assumes that all 40 employees have no dependents, and thus get no increase in their flex
dollars. If this were true, the three-year cost of the contracts would be over $1.7 million:
Increased Officer
$224,900
Uniform Allowance
No Increased Flex
($300/year) Plus
Dollar Allowance
2% COLA $400/year for
(assumes all
Fiscal Effective Records Supervisor
employees have no
Year Julv'20 Effective Julv'20*
dependents)
3% COLA 3% COLA
Effective Effective
Julv'21 Julv'22 Total
FY 20-21
$224,900
$12,100
$0
Notapplicable
Notapplicable
$237,000
Fy21-22
$224,900
$12,100
$0
$337,350
Notapplicable
$574,350
FY 22-23
$224,900
$12,100
$0
$337,350
$337,350
$911,700
Total 3 -Year Cost of Contracts $1,723,050
In summary, the three-year cumulative cost of the proposed contracts is likely to be in the
range of $1.6 million.
Item T: Back -In Parking
The Financial Impact section states that allowing back -in beach lot parking will have "no
financial impact." However, this statement refers to whether Council approval would require a
budget amendment. It does not mean that Council approval would not result in a loss of
revenue.
Given that 21 months of enforcement has generated almost $261,000 in fines, what is
the anticipated annual loss of revenue if back -in parking is allowed in the beach lots?
City of Seal Beach
Total Monthly Compensation Oata
June 2017
Recreation
Specialist
-
Total
Next
Next
Monthly
Effective
Salary
Percentage
Rank
Comparator Agency
Class Title
Camp
Date
Increase
Increase
1
City of Huntington Beach
Community Services and Recreation Specialist
$7,818
10/1/2016
Unknown
Unknown
2
City of Newport Beach
Recreation Leader, Senior
$5,786
1/1/2017
Unknown
Unknown
3
City of Cypress
Recreation Specialist
$5,518
7/1/2016
7/14/2017
2.00%
4
City of San Clemente
Recreation Specialist -Benefited Part Time
$5,279
9129/2916
unknown
Unknown
5
City of Costa Mesa
Recreation Specialist
$5,125
6/28/2015
Unknown
Unknown
6
City of Hermosa Beach
Recreation Specialist
$4,910
7/1/2015
Unknown
Unknown
7
City of Fountain Valley
Recreation Specialist
$4,630
6/2/2015
Unknown
Unknown
B
City of Buena Park
Recreation Leader III
$4,495
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
9
City of EI Segundo
Recreation Leader III
$4,395
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
10
City of Seal Beach
Recreation Specialist
$3,148
7/1/2016
Unknown
Unknown
11
City of Laguna Beach
N/C
12
City of Manhattan Beach
N/C
13
City of Redonda Beach
N/C
Average of Camparators
$5,32a
%City of Seal Beach Above/Below
-69.2%
Median of Comparators
$5,125
%City of Seal Beach Above/Below
-62.7%
Number of Matches
9
NOTE: All calculations exclude City of Seal Beach
N/C - Non Comparator
Page 37, of 41 Compensation Report Appendix Ilc