Politics & Government

Benefits for Employees of New Transit Agency May have a Whole New Look

Board members split on how salaries, benefits, pensions should be determined.

Amid all the talk of budgets, public employee compensation, pensions and benefits, two cities, Vallejo and Benicia along with Solano County are creating a new transit agency, SolTrans, to run bus service for both cities.

and Councilman  represent Benicia on the Board of Directors where discussions are centered on creating the administrative structure of the new transit agency.

In April, board members took the first steps in defining a salary and benefits schedule for the , which will employ administrative staff while contracting with an outside company that will employ drivers, mechanics and maintenance people.

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A human resources subcommittee made up of Ioakimedes and Vallejo City Council Member Erin Hannigan worked with consultant Joy Apilado to create an organizational chart, a salary schedule and a recommendation on retirement and health benefits.

often refers to the process of creating the agency as starting with a blank piece of paper where there are no preconceived notions of how salaries and benefits packages should be designed.

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While all members of the board agreed with the recommendations regarding organization there was disagreement on the salary and benefits recommendations. Vallejo Council Member Stephanie Gomes, who was sitting in for Hannigan when the board met in April, disagreed with the methodology – comparision to salaries at other transit agencies – used to determine the proposed salary schedule.

"We're not basing our salaries on reality," said Gomes. "Salaries are going down everywhere but government so comparing a government agency to a government agency doesn't really address whether the salaries are realistic in these economic times."

On the proposed retirement and health benefits and leave policy, again there was disagreement on the level of the benefits and the methodology.

Gomes and Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis, who also sits on the board, were unhappy that the only retirement option presented by the subcommittee was a defined benefit plan through CalPERS.  Vallejo has been unable to change some of its pension plans in the CalPERS system and this lack of flexibility is a red flag for the Vallejo representatives.

The board sent the retirement plan back to the subcommittee so it could investigate other retirement options. 

"I'd rather have more flexibility than we get from PERS," Davis said.

Ioakimedes doesn't deny the subcommittee limited the scope of its research to CalPERS, saying the direction the subcommittee received from the board was to look at only CalPERS though he is open to exploring other options. This is where the “blank piece of paper” analogy came into play for Ioakimedes who is hoping to see options for retirement plans that are not currently used by any public agency.

"We were very mindful that we started with a clean slate," said Ioakimedes.  "We never discussed not doing PERS."

"I think it's a conversation worth having," he said, referring to exploring other retirement plans.  "I'd rather have the first of the new style agreements than the last of the old style.  It was the direction of the board to look in this direction."

Patterson and Solano County Supervisor Jim Spering had a different view of CalPERS.  Spering said, "I wasn't aware there were any concerns about PERS," and Patterson characterized it as "one of the best managed retirement systems in the world." They expressed concern about attracting and retaining high-quality employees without a defined benefit retirement plan in place, a concern echoed by Solano Transportation Authority staff.

The Human Resources subcommittee is meeting again before the regular May meeting of the full board and will discuss retirement benefits though according to Darryl Halls, executive director of the Solano Transportation Authority, there hasn’t been sufficient time to fully investigate all the retirement options available so no recommendations will be coming from the committee at the next meeting.


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