Supervisors Delay Merit Pay Raises for 1 Year : Budget: Board holds off on 5% salary increases for county workers, but backs away from an early retirement incentive plan.

More than half of Ventura County employees will lose merit pay raises of 5% for one year under an austere salary plan adopted Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.

But the board backed away from a separate proposal to entice older workers to retire early by offering them and their families five years of medical benefits after leaving government service.

Board members voted 3 to 1 to delay yearly pay raises based on merit to help offset anticipated cutbacks in state revenues. Supervisor Susan K. Lacey voted against the proposal, and Supervisor John K. Flynn was absent.

County Personnel Director Ronald W. Komers, who recommended that both plans be adopted, said withholding the scheduled raises for the 3,700 eligible workers would save the county $3.23 million. The other 2,800 or so county employees have already reached the top level of their respective pay scales and are not eligible for merit raises, Komers said.

The decision Tuesday will not affect annual cost-of-living salary adjustments granted to all county employees, he said.

Lacey cited “philosophical differences” in voting against the delay, despite her beliefs that merit pay should be awarded based solely on job performance and not length of service.

“I could support putting off a pay raise that affects everybody,” she said after the meeting. “But I can’t support this particular cut at this particular time.”

Other supervisors, however, argued that delaying merit raises does not translate into a cut in pay.

“We’re talking about not increasing salaries,” Supervisor Maria E. VanderKolk said. “This is not unusual. A lot of our employees are in a better position than a lot of (private) employees out there.”

Supervisor Vicky Howard said the board should go further in paring employee salaries by re-examining pay raises granted based on length of service.

“People should not expect that every year they’re going to get an automatic pay increase,” she said. “Part of this crisis we’re in is that people are expected to earn their merit increases.”

Howard also requested that the board review the county’s policy that pays its managers bonuses for staying at least five years on the job. The county will pay out more than $2 million next month to the top 650 managers under the longevity perk approved four years ago by the supervisors.

Employee union representatives, who urged the board to reject the merit delay, criticized the supervisors’ decision to forfeit salary increases before lawmakers in Sacramento finalize how much money the state will dole out to county governments.

“They reacted to what they perceived to be political pressures out there,” said Barry Hammitt, executive director of the Service Employee International Union Local 998. “Certain members of the board seem to have little respect for contractual relationships,” he said.

Union President Steve Wood said he would rather see layoffs than a delay in pay raises.

“It’s going to be painful, but if pain has to be inflicted, that’s the way we want to see it happen,” he said.

The labor agreement negotiated between the union and county allows supervisors to impose a onetime merit pay delay of up to 26 biweekly pay periods. The $3.23 million in savings would accrue over two years because employees become eligible for the increases at different times throughout the year, Komers said.

Under a labor agreement with his deputies, Sheriff Larry Carpenter must approve any delay on merit pay raises for members of the Ventura County Deputy Sheriffs Assn. Carpenter said he would work with leaders of that union to reach a “fair” settlement on the issue.

Association President David Williams said the union will insist that any savings remain within the Sheriff’s Department budget.

“Our whole thing is public safety,” Williams said. “We don’t want to see the level of public safety reduced.”

Despite the vote to delay merit pay raises for thousands of employees, the board postponed a decision Tuesday on an early retirement incentive plan that would have saved nearly $9 million in future salaries.

Komers had also recommended that supervisors adopt a proposal that would grant five years of medical benefits to employees and their families as an inducement to retire early.

But board members delayed action indefinitely on the “open window” incentive plan, saying they needed more time to study the figures.

State Budget’s Local Impact Under the state budget adopted by the Legislature, six Ventura County cities face losses ranging from $125,000 to more than $1.7 million. But the Legislature is also considering various companion bills that would dip into state transportation funds to soften the blow to city budgets.

Estimated state State transportation City funding cuts funds used to offset cuts Net loss Camarillo $0 $0 $0 Fillmore $125,000 $39,000 $86,000 Moorpark $0 $0 $0 Ojai $152,000 $47,000 $105,000 Oxnard $1,759,000 $550,000 $1,209,000 Port Hueneme $273,000 $85,000 $188,000 Santa Paula $336,000 $105,000 $231,000 Simi Valley $0 $0 $0 Thousand Oaks $0 $0 $0 Ventura $1,076,000 $336,000 $740,000

Source: State Legislative Analyst’s Office

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