Culver City : Managers Donate 1% of Pay

The city’s management-level workers are donating $41,000 of their money to a worthy cause: their city government.

Representatives of the 93-member management group voted unanimously to give 1% of their salaries back to the city. The tax-deductible donation will help meet a $452,000 shortfall in state funding.

“The members were concerned with the city’s well-being,” said Eric Shapiro, staff president of the management union. “The understanding was that all the employees should contribute in hard times.”

City Manager Jody Hall Esser has asked employees to come up with one-third of the budget shortfall in salary or benefit cuts in order to avoid layoffs. The city cut 14 positions from a budget passed in June.

City departments were asked to make up for the other two-thirds. Department managers are turning in reduced spending plans this week, Finance Manager Bob Norquist said.

The other employee unions--general service, police and fire--are negotiating contracts with the city.

The deficit developed early last month when city officials learned that the state would retain revenue from property and cigarette taxes in order to balance its budget.

The management union authorized the city to dock members’ paychecks for the rest of the 1992-93 fiscal year. The average contribution per manager will be $450.

At the time of the Sept. 30 vote, managers were not sure that the contribution would be tax deductible. But the city attorney recently confirmed that the IRS will allow it as a charitable donation since it is made to a public entity.

“This is truly a unique concept,” Norquist said. “I’ve been in city government for over 20 year and I’ve never seen anything like it. But it works.”