By a 4-1 vote, with Councilman Bob Elliott dissenting, the council approved a contract with the Teamsters Local 439 that, according to city statistics, will save more than $246,801 over its three-year term.
Elliott explained his no vote by calling some of the terms “too generous,” considering the city’s expected general fund deficit of $2.2 million for the 2012-13 budget year.
Of especial concern to Elliott were leave hours given to employees and the end of unpaid furloughs.
In exchange for those benefits, the Teamsters agreed to forgo cost-of-living adjustments, be responsible for paying the full employee share of pension contributions, and pay a higher share of their health insurance premiums.
Members of the union — which include code enforcement officers, maintenance workers, animal control officers and crime scene technicians — also will be granted 40 hours of vacation time when they reach 10 years of service with the city, and at every five year milestone thereafter. That benefit, according to Assistant City Manager Maria Hurtado’s presentation, will not be retroactive.
The terms of the Teamsters contract mirrored those offered June 19 to the Tracy Firefighters Association, Midmanagers Bargaining Group, Confidential Midmanagers Bargaining Group, Technical Services and Support Unit, Limited Service Employee Group and department heads.
The city estimates that, if all employee groups adopt similar contracts in 2016 without the “givebacks,” that $3.4 million in spending would be knocked off the city’s general fund budget.
City Manager Leon Churchill said that such contracts give the city “a very reasonable chance” of balancing the budget without Measure E, a half-cent sales tax increase approved by a majority of Tracy voters in 2010 that expires in 2016.
At a glance
• WHAT: Tracy City Council
• WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 17
• WHERE: City Hall, 333 Civic Center Plaza
• DETAILS: Mayor Brent Ives and councilmen Steve Abercrombie, Bob Elliott, Michael Maciel and Robert Rickman were present.
• For more on the Tuesday, July 17, City Council meeting, see the Friday print edition of the Tracy Press. • Contact editor Jon Mendelson at 830-4231 or jmendelson@tracypress.com.
City employees will not be able to collect social security like Elliot will.
Elliot didn't pay one penny into his military retirement, yet it's ok for him to collect it after only 20 years?
Sounds to me that Elliot and mike (I got mine) Maciel are cut from the same cloth. Those two are embarrassments, not civic leaders.
Do you even know what code enforcement officers do?
The city has contracted out to non union maintenance workers, so all of your gripes about that have to do with your no skilled monkeys cutting your grass.
Elliot earned your vote for grandstanding? He knew that if he voted no then dimwits like you would vote for him. Guess who the negotiator gets their direction from. The city manager, who gets his direction from the city council, so Elliot told Leon what he wanted and when Leon gave it to him, he voted no. Sounds good to you hu?
still haven't seen Maciel give any portion of his retirement up, what's up with that?
Oh ya, mr. Tough on unions Elliot..... He collects a full retirement from uncle Sam after only 20 years. That includes lifetime medical, and the opportunity to purchase items tax free from any military base he chooses to shop at. AND he will be able to collect social security, and he will collect a third retirement from his current employer.
My take:
code enforcement officers - If we have more than one in town then we have too many.
maintenance workers - why are we using overpaid union labor for this? If they did much of anything I might feel differently but everytime I go to the park I see nothing but further degradation and no sign, aside from mowed grass, that they even visit. Why has the water fountain in my local park been non-op for 7 years now? Any no skill monkey can do most of this work, so hire a bunch of minimum wage, no benefit folks. The city could probably double the number of them and still pay half as much.
animal control officers - unnecessary, but if we are feeling rich then one would be more than enough
I realize the animal folks do more than just pick up carcasses, like pick up strays and such. Again I would just rather see the residents empowered. If a stray is endangering people anybody should feel free to take action and shoot it. Again, easy solution with no need to cry for nanny to come help. As far as non-threatening strays go, either folks adopt them, they starve or they learn to take care of themselves. Problem solved in any case.
Believe it or not countries all over the world get by just fine without animal control.
Really, your going to chase that stray pitbull down and do what with it if and when you catch it, since the shelter is now closed cause it's only open 30 minutes 2 days a week now. you rode the short bus to school. Didn't you?
It is important to note that Elliot disagreed ... why?
Because all of the city council except for Bob is an existing or retired public employee!
Labor is looking at Stockton, San Bernadino, Mammoth Lakes, San Jose, San Diego, and now, Compton where the municipalities are electing Chapter 9 in an effort to get out from under the excessive public employee benifits.
Labor should look to the Walker model ... it will either be bankruptcy or worse ... look at what happened in Wisconson! The sky didn't fall but jobs were saved, taxes were stablized, and unemployment went and is going down!
WAKE UP...
The citizens of Tracy need to change out our Labor Rubber Stamp city council and bring in some adults.
FYI Elliott is a retired Army Colonel. Does that count as a public employee?
Elliott voted no because he knew everyone would vote yes. He is using it to get elected to County Supervisor.