COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

County Manager’s Office

 

DATE:

March 15, 2011

BOARD MEETING DATE:

March 29, 2011

SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:

None

VOTE REQUIRED:

Majority

 

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

David S. Boesch, County Manager

SUBJECT:

Early Retirement in Lieu of Layoffs

RECOMMENDATION:

Adopt a Resolution enacting Section 31641.04 of the Government Code enabling otherwise eligible employees in the classifications of Advisory Systems Engineer, Lead Transportation Officer, Project Manager, Social Work Supervisor, and Systems Engineer to select an early retirement option as an alternative to layoffs.

 

BACKGROUND:

Government Code Section 31641.04 permits members of the County Employees’ Retirement System to receive one additional year of service credits toward retirement under conditions established by the Board of Supervisors. This code section was enacted on a broad basis in 1988 as a result of curtailment of services and changes in the manner of services. By invoking this code section the number of layoffs as a result of the cost savings was reduced. Since that time, your Board has periodically adopted resolutions that allowed employees in various departments to select the early retirement option to reduce costs and prevent employees from being laid off as a result of the cost cutting.

 

DISCUSSION:

To meet current year budget targets, the Information Services Department and the Human Services Agency are eliminating filled positions within their respective departments in the following classifications: Advisory Systems Engineer, Lead Transportation Officer, Project Manager, Social Work Supervisor, and Systems Engineer. Exercising an early retirement option will reduce the number of layoffs within these classifications. We are recommending that the early retirement option be implemented for the classifications identified above, resulting in 6 employees participating in the program.

 

Pursuant to Government Code Sections 31516, 7507, and 316141.04, the actuarial certification of cost to provide the early retirement option was presented for your review on March 15, 2011 and County Counsel has reviewed and approved the recommended Resolution as to form.

 

The adoption of this resolution contributes to the Shared Vision 2025 outcome of a Collaborative Community by ensuring that government decisions and approach to issues are based around fiscal accountability and concern for future impacts.

 

FISCAL IMPACT:

The cost of early retirement for the six employees is $174,751. Based on the assumption that each one of the six employees would have worked for one more year if there was no early retirement incentive, there will be a net salary and benefits savings of approximately $655,276. This is based on annual salary and benefits at a cost of approximately $830,027.

 

Long-term employees who have elected this option will benefit by receiving an additional one-year of service credit in the calculation of pension benefits. The increase in pension benefits will vary person to person. Past calculations have resulted in approximately a 3.5% increase.

 

Cc:

David Bailey, Chief Executive Officer, SamCERA
Chris Flatmoe, Information Services Director
Tom Huening, County Controller
Beverly Johnson, Human Services Agency Director
Mike Murphy, County Counsel
Donna Vaillancourt, Human Resources Director