On Tuesday, the Santa Clara Water District approved new agreements with three employee unions that will save $7.7 million over the life of the contracts.
The water district’s board of directors unanimously approved the contracts with the Engineers Society, Professional Management Association, one week after negotiations finished with the largest union, the Employee’s Association affecting 686 of the agency’s 714 total employees.
Negotiations began in September. Current contracts were set to expire Saturday.
“I’m satisfied very much so by the results. The union(s) were very cooperative, we got a lot of negotiations results. That’s what negotiation are, you give a little, take a little,” said board President Don Gage. “Employees did well in understanding the economic consequences we’re facing.”
Starting in April 2012, employees will contribute 15 percent of their health care premiums and pay an increase of 1.1 percent to 11 percent of contributions toward the California Public Employees Retirement System, CalPERS. For the 15 percent, that could be as low as $74.35 per month under Kaiser or $246 for Blue Shield’s family plan.
Employees will also lose one vacation day, lowering their vacation days to 12 per year. Sick leave payouts upon retirement are restructured to a cap of 480, with a 50 percent rate of the equivalent cash value.
New employees after Jan. 1, 2012 will earn a rate of 2 percent of their salary for retirement plans, multiplied by their years of service until the age of 60. Current employees will maintain the 2.5 percent up to the age of 55.
Under the three-year contract, union represented employees will receive a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2013 at 1.5 percent and 2014 at 2.0 percent.
The Engineers Society membership approved the contract by 77 percent, while the Professional Managers Association was approved at 96.4 percent of its members.
The district provides drinking water and flood control measures for 1.8 million people and has come under fire in the past 10 years – reflected in a grand jury report that criticized the district for its spending habits and perks for employees. It has some costly retrofit projects at hand, including a $600 million estimated total to fix 10 of its dams.
Gage called the Anderson Reservoir retrofit project in Morgan Hill “the top priority.” The dam is the largest in the county – holding 95,000 acre-feet of water.
The district set aside $110 million for the Anderson Reservoir project, although it may cost $150 million to complete, said Gage. He said since “we don’t have money for that” the district will look into a possible bond, or the federal and state government “if they ever have enough.”
Expenditures for the district also exceed revenues each year from 2010-2015, according to staff. Shortfalls would have to be met by dipping into reserves; current fiscal year 2011 reserves were at $298, projected to be $116 million by 2015 if no cuts were made. The district has a 22 percent reserve policy for its water utility division, currently at 25 percent, or $36 million.
“There were no layoffs, no furloughs,” said Gage. “They wanted to preserve the workforce, that’s one of the reasons they gave up more.”
In fiscal year 2012, South County will see an increase of $10 per acre-foot for groundwater protection charges for municipal and industrial use – so those who do not operate their own wells for home use. From 2009-2011, the charge was $275 per acre-foot.
In July, the board will consider a measure for the November ballot to extend the Safe, Clean Water and Natural Flood Protection Plan parcel tax that expires in 2016. The initiative cleans out creeks and vegetation with some habitat restoration said Gage and protects 91,000 pieces of property from flooding because of that. “We still have 61,000 (pieces of property) to go, its not over yet,” said Gage.
Currently, customers pay $50 per parcel, with expected revenue of $38.8 million for this fiscal year. An extension would pick up right where the current one expires, and only be for a 10-year term rather than the current 16 years and at a lower cost of $35 per parcel, said Gage.
