Mercer Study now available
The compensation and benefits study commissioned last year by the Pensacola City Council has been completed. The study, performed by The Mercer Group, is available below.
The $25,000 study was criticised by Progressive Pensacola and others as unnecessary. Before taking any action to address the City’s unfunded pension liability, some Council members felt the need to have a comprehensive study of the City’s compensation and benefits structure, including pensions.
More on the Mercer Study in the coming days. The City Council will hold a workshop on Thursday afternoon to discuss the study.
Download MercerStudy.pdf (PDF, 217.09KB)
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Mrs Mack stated before the study came back that “all parties have agreed to abide by the findings of the study”. Well Mrs Mack, looks like we’ve got a pay raise coming as city employees are grossly underpaid. What about those cadillac pensions, looks like they are model Ts.
I agree that city employeees should get raises. Figure how many non-police and non-fire you need to let go to fund the others. No problem and everyone gets raises.
City employees used to receive annual increases as well as longevity, but increases stopped over 2 years ago & longevity was also frozen. As a result, most employees have not received a pay increase since October 2007. But if you took an employee’s base pay & added in longevity, the salaries might not be as low as reflected in the study. The employees who are most underpaid are new employees (less than 15 years since they receive minial longevity) who are not police officers or firefighters. That should be taken into consideration.
Employee contributions to their pension plans should also be taken into consideration. Police officers pay .5% toward their pensions & they receive 100% of pay when they retire — and if they die, their spouse continues to receive 100% of pay. Firefighters pay 11% of their salaries into their pension plan, but their pension benefit is not as generous as what police officers receive. General employees pay 5.5% into their pension plan & have a less generous benefit than either police or fire. General employees were given the option to move to the Florida Retirement System (the option was required by state law) over 2 1/2 years ago. Since that time, all new general employees have been covered by FRS so any changes to the general pension plan won’t yield much in way of savings. To add to the mix, the fire plan was created by, & can only be changed by, a special act of the legislature while the police & general plans are covered by ordinance. From my standpoint, the 2 year averaging & spousal benefit seem generous & should be changed for all 3 plans — at least for new employees — so they come closer to what is provided by FRS.
I’d also like to comment on life insurance, dental insurance & health insurance. The city’s life insurance is a joke. At $10,000, it’s a burial plan, not a life insurance plan. As inexpensive as group term life insurance is, the city should do better by their employees. The dental insurance is also pitiful. The city’s benefit is $750 a year while the market normally pays close to $1400. In addition, the % the city pays isn’t up to market. Health insurance is also a problem. Most employers in the market pay a higher percentage of the premium for their employees. The city lags significantly in this area.
I’ve only started reviewing the report, but those are the areas that jumped out at me. I wish I could attend Thursday’s meeting.
Can the council guarantee me a pay raise too?
In our company pay raises are based on productivity and the market. There is no guarantee. Our company tells us there is a recession and that they are fighting to avoid lay offs.
Just wondering why government employees funded by taxpayers should be guaranteed pay raises.
And our company has never been able to afford to give a 5% pay raise across the board as the city has done.
I agree the city should be able to get better bang for their buck on insurance. One wonders why they have not shopped for it.
I will answer your quesiton Mike. NO, the City Council cannot guarantee you a pay raise because you opted to work in the private sector where the average salary is higher than in government positions.
For as long as you have been alive, guaranteed step increases in city government jobs have been in existence and now when the economy is in a downtown, folks like you get all indignant when it was never an issue before.
There never were guaranteed pay increases. Employees had to have at least a satisfactory performance evaluation. If there performance was less than satisfactory, the pay increase was withheld.
Then there should be no problem if they don’t get a pay raise, like the rest of the private sector working stiffs.
Who gets longevity increases?
Mike,
The military and school district give longevity raises.
2 more government entities funded by the taxpayers.
In my mind military benefits fit into another category.
Great deal if you can get it but not reality for the taxpayers paying for it.
Escambia county paid longevity but suspended those payments about the same time the city did. Whether it’s in base pay, longevity, special duty pay, etc., the bottom line is that the study showed city employees are underpaid. Seems like some adjustments need to be made. If you don’t want to pay them more then at least get them a better deal on their insurance.
I agree that with a large group plan, the city should be able to shop better coverages.
The song and dance given to justify Pcola’s low salaries has been that the cost of living is low in Pensacola, but not today.
The CRA has to pay for a ballpark. New assessments have been added. Some think adding city- urban taxing districts are a great idea.
This from the same so called leaders that tell us they want to attract residents.
We get what we pay for. As long as the city’s priority is the maritime park and tennis courts dont be mad when it takes a few more minutes for the fire dept or police to respond. The city has been cutting our core services to the bone while securing millions for parks. Vote all incumbants out