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Generous City Benefits Continue Amid Cutbacks

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By ELLEN GEDALIUS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 12, 2008

TAMPA - After 28 years with the city, Sgt. James Contento called it quits. When he left, the city gave him a check for nearly $70,000 for his unused sick and vacation time.

Bill Doherty clocked more than 20 years before last year's layoffs forced him to retire as deputy director of the code enforcement department. He walked out with a check for about $30,000 for unused sick and vacation time.

Even employees who leave City Hall under a cloud are eligible for payouts. Three fire inspectors who resigned after being accused of inappropriately accepting gifts walked away with a combined $64,600 for unused sick and vacation time.

The ability to stockpile vacation and sick-time hours from one year to the next - and to cash that time out when an employee retires - has long been a perk government workers enjoy that many private employees don't.

That practice is likely to come under increasing scrutiny, though, in the wake of property tax reform. The passage of Amendment 1 by itself will mean at least a $12 million hit - and possibly much more - for the city next year.

That's a big number, but so is the $16.5 million paid last year to departing employees. The city expects accrued sick and vacation time to cost taxpayers about the same amount this year.

"A lot of people are starting to notice it," said local labor attorney Tom Gonzalez. "It's a debate that's going to take place."

City officials say benefits policies need to be reviewed, that tight budgets demand it. But they're making no promises.

"I recognize it's a problem, I agree it's a problem, it ought to be changed," said Mayor Pam Iorio, who said she questioned the policy when she first took office five years ago. "How to do it is the difficult thing. Employees are used to it."

Who Wants To Be The First?

Sick and vacation time provisions are spelled out in union contracts and in the city's personnel manual.

Specifics vary according to position and which union is involved, but in general, employees can carry over up to 240 hours of vacation time from one year to the next. Any accumulation above 240 hours gets converted into sick time hours.

Employees generally rack up about 12 sick days a year, with no limit to the number of hours they can carry over from year to year.

Fire and police employees who retire from the city get paid for their unused sick time at half their pay rate. Other employees who retire from the city and have 10 years of service with the city also qualify for sick time payouts.

If all city employees were to leave today, the city would owe its employees about $56 million for their unused sick and vacation time, according to chief accountant Lee Huffstutler.

Provisions differ for other government employees.

Hillsborough County used to allow employees to get paid for up to 480 sick hours at their full pay rate but ended the practice about a decade ago because it was too expensive.

Now, employees who were hired after Feb. 1, 1997, who leave the county do not get paid for any unused sick hours. However, they can convert up to four days of unused sick time into vacation time each year. When they leave the county, they get paid for up to 320 hours of unused vacation time.

The school district has several policies but generally pays retiring employees for their unused sick time hours based on the number of years vested in the Florida Retirement System.

Iorio says a cap should exist on the amount of sick time the city pays out to employees. The problem, she said, is persuading the police, fire and general employee unions to agree to change the rules.

"The difficulty is you just don't ever get agreement on the union negotiations," Iorio said. "It's an absolute non-starter. Those changes would have to be approved by three separate unions. It's a difficult issue to address because it has been in place with the city forever."

Some governments elsewhere in the country have managed to make the change. The Massachusetts Port Authority got rid of a policy that allowed some employees to accumulate up to 15 unused sick days a year and get paid when they left, according to a story in the Boston Globe.

And in Bernards Township, N.J., the government now caps at $15,000 the amount that can be paid out to nonunion employees, according to a published report in the Newark Star-Ledger.

If changes were made in Tampa, they likely would not be retroactive because that would violate the policies in place when the contracts were signed, City Attorney David Smith said.

The city has no short-term disability program, so employees who bank their sick time from year to year can use that time if they are having surgery or have a long-term illness, Human Resources Director Kimberly Crum said.

Still, she said, the city needs to look at changing its benefits policy, especially in light of budget shortfalls. But with three bargaining groups, she said, "Who wants to be the first to give the concession?"

Unions: Policies Are Effective

Union officials say the promise of payouts is a strong incentive to prevent employees from abusing their sick days.

"You don't see police officers call in sick very frequently," said Greg Stout, president of the police union. "It's a rarity here to see a police officer abusing sick time."

Larry Parker, president of the fire union, says that if firefighters abused their sick days, the city would have to pay overtime to firefighters called in to cover shifts.

"It's a benefit to the city because a lot of guys don't use their sick leave," Parker said. "The city is getting a bargain by only paying us 50 percent."

Contento, who retired from the city in October, said he rarely used sick days.

"I was one of those people who believe in coming to work," Contento said. "If I had a cold or the flu or was feeling crummy, I would come to work.

"The policy is very generous, I admit. We have it good," Contento said. "It's a nice benefit, there's no doubt. I'm sure some people see it and find it hard to understand."

But police work is draining, he said, and a generous sick time policy is only fair when cops give up so many of their nights and weekends to protect the city.

Charles Brown retired from the city after 33 years with the fire department. He will get paid about $72,000 for unused sick time and $12,000 for unused vacation time.

"I probably used 15 days in 30 years," Brown said. "It's a fair policy. If you're not using your time I feel you should get paid for that, that you were a loyal employee and came to work every day. You shouldn't be penalized at the end for coming to work every day."

A Question Of Balance

Gonzalez, the labor attorney, does work for the city and says the policy's time has come and gone. Gonzalez has decades of experience in labor law, and has done work for the Hillsborough County School District, other municipalities and private companies.

Historically, government salaries had been lower than private sector salaries, so governments made it up to their workers by offering generous benefits packages, he said. Over time, though, as competition for quality workers became fiercer, governments raised salaries but never took away benefits.

Nationally, the average salary of a local government worker was $40,710, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average worker - including government and private sector employees - made about $39,190, according to the May 2006 data.

"The private sector has gotten progressively meaner," Gonzalez said. "The public sector sticks out more and more. There's one variable cost in government these days - it's personnel. I don't begrudge them anything, but the debate has to be there: Is this how we should spend the money?"

To Crum, the issue is balancing compensation packages with attracting good employees in a competitive market.

"The difficulty is something's got to give," Crum said. "We have to ask ourselves, how much give is there?"

Researcher Melanie Coon contributed to this story. Reporter Ellen Gedalius can be reached at (813) 259-7679 or egedalius@tampatrib.com.

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