Tough economic times have put City of Sammamish employees in less than ideal positions recently — most notably forcing workers to take pay cuts to help balance the city’s budget.
The City Council passed a resolution Monday they believe will prevent employees from having to make more significant financial sacrifices.
In a 5-2 vote, the council approved averaging the annual Cost of Living Adjustment over the next four years in an attempt to mitigate drastic ups and downs in employee reimbursement.
“I would hate for the day, if we stick with the same program, that we would be looking at our employees to come back and take a pay cut again,” said Deputy Mayor John James, one of five who voted in favor of the resolution.
Don Gerend, John Curley, Tom Vance and Ramiro Valderrama also voted in favor with Tom Odell and Nancy Whitten opposing.
Under the old format, the city used the previous year’s June to calculate the Consumer Price Index in the region. From there, the city’s COLA was calculated.
That method resulted in a wide range of fluctuations over the last decade, with the CPI peaking at 5.8 percent in 2009. In 2010, the CPI was at a negative four-tenths of a percent. The Employee Committee volunteered to take a pay cut for the following year, but the council opted to leave salary and wages alone.
In 2011, staff finally was asked to a pay cut when the CPI reached negative five-tenths of a percent.
Under the new format, the peaks and valleys are expected to be eliminated, creating higher averages for employees in tough economic times.
“Obviously any time you deal with somebody’s compensation it’s a very sensitive topic,” City Manager Ben Yazici said. “I just think that this is a fair proposal for employees and the city.”
Councilwoman Whitten wanted to hear directly from a city employee, asking Parks and Recreation Director Jessi Richardson to step to the podium.
After providing a series of diplomatic answers, Whitten asked Richardson if it would be fair to say the four-year plan wasn’t a morale booster to the city’s 63 employees.
“I would think that would be fair,” Richardson said. “I can tell you there’s been a lot of emotional conversations in the work place discussing this on both sides.”
The new COLA plan will cover the next two biennial budget periods (2013-2014 and 2015-2016). With an estimated 3 percent CPI in 2013, the city expects to save approximately $117,000 in personnel costs under the new four-year plan. City employees will see a COLA increase of 1.33 percent in 2013 and 2.18 percent in 2014.
“If anybody does ever have a problem with what we pay, always compare what we pay to other cities, and you’ll see that we don’t exactly spoil anybody here in Sammamish,” said Councilman Curley.
Council roundup
– The council voted July 16 to extend a moratorium on the establishment of collective gardens in Sammamish. With its busy schedule, the Planning Commission was forced to tackle other issues first. By extending the moratorium another six months, the longest time allowed, will prevent anyone from applying for a collective garden in Sammamish.
– The council adopted a resolution directing King County Elections to place an advisory measure for a $30 million community center on the Nov. 6 general election ballot. Sammamish has until Aug. 7 to submit the ballot measure and the adopted resolution.
– The council appointed committees to write pro and con statements for the community center advisory measure. Hank Klein, Doug Egglington and Bernie Lucking were picked to write pro statements for the measure, while James Wasnick, Arthur Goldman and Cyrus Oskoui were picked to write opposing views.
– Monday’s meeting marked the final city council meeting of the summer. The council will next meet on Sept. 4.
