FLOOR WAXING BONUS? LUCRATIVE PERKS BOOST PAY FOR CITY, COUNTY WORKERS.Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County supervisors last week approved a ``shooting bonus'' of up to $32 a month for Fire Department arson investigators, even though none can recall ever having to fire a weapon at someone. County janitors are eligible for a ``floor waxing bonus'' of $120 a month. If a custodian agrees to act as a watchman WATCHMAN. An officer in many cities and towns, whose duty it is to watch during the night and take care of the property of the inhabitants. 2. He possesses generally the common law authority of a constable (q.v. in case the building catches fire, his weekly earnings jump 5.5 percent. Hundreds of Los Angeles city street-repair workers receive bonuses for working in noisy areas with decibel decibel (dĕs`əbĕl', –bəl), abbr. dB, unit used to measure the loudness of sound. It is one tenth of a bel (named for A. G. Bell), but the larger unit is rarely used. levels 85 or higher. City employees who repair street sweepers or transport sewage receive an ``obnoxious conditions'' bonus. These are a few of the hundreds of bonuses that city and county employees - who already enjoy some of the best salaries, pensions and other benefits among public employees in the nation - are entitled to. Critics say many of the bonuses are bogus perks perk 1 v. perked, perk·ing, perks v.intr. 1. To stick up or jut out: dogs' ears that perk. 2. To carry oneself in a lively and jaunty manner. employee unions have won over the years and should be closely scrutinized. City and county officials don't recall conducting a comprehensive review of the bonuses, their justification or total costs. ``What is clearly going on here is a nefarious yet successful means to disguise both pay and pension-spiking,'' said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association helped sponsor Proposition 13, the property tax-cutting initiative in California in 1978 which slashed property taxes by fifty-seven percent and initiated a national tax revolt. It was founded by California republican Howard Jarvis. . ``It's clearly a way to hide from taxpayers the true cost of public employment.'' A 1997 California Supreme Court decision - the result of a Ventura County Deputy Sheriff's Association lawsuit - added hundreds of these bonuses to the list of items government employees statewide could use to boost their pensions. On May 31, a San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden Superior Court judge is expected to approve the final settlement of a subsequent lawsuit filed by a variety of unions in the state. In that case, an appellate court A court having jurisdiction to review decisions of a trial-level or other lower court. An unsuccessful party in a lawsuit must file an appeal with an appellate court in order to have the decision reviewed. has already ruled that premium pay employees earned prior to 1997 can also be used to calculate their pensions. Los Angeles County officials expect the proposed settlement to increase the pension system's deficit by $177 million to $5.6 billion. The rising costs of public pensions for taxpayers has raised concerns statewide, and some state lawmakers say the costs are siphoning off funds that could go to education, transportation, public safety and health care. The county's contributions to the pension system have nearly doubled from $795 million in 1997-98 to $1.4 billion this year. State government contribution costs rose from $160 million in 2000 to $2.6 billion this year, and are expected to hit $3.5 billion by 2009. City and county officials say they pay bonuses to attract and retain high-quality employees, encourage employees to obtain higher levels of expertise and training, and to help fill unattractive jobs. Jim Adams Jim Adams born (James Adams) is an American heavy metal guitarist. His is best known for being lead guitarist for thrash metal band Defiance. Joining the band in 1985, Adams quickly became an integral member of the band, co-writing much of their material and playing on all three of , chief of the Employee Relations Division in the county's Chief Administrative Office, conceded the floor waxing bonus is evidence that not all the bonuses have a ``very solid basis.'' Still, he argues, most bonuses - ranging from 25 cents an hour to several extra dollars an hour - have ``well-thought-out'' reasons behind them. Royce Menkus, Los Angeles assistant city administrative officer, said the city has ``literally hundreds and hundreds'' of different types of bonuses, and employees can use the ``vast majority'' of them to help increase the amount of their future pensions. Menkus said employees can receive multiple bonuses, like a police officer who receives bonuses for speaking a second language and working as a senior lead officer. A bonus typically increases an employee's pay by 2.75 percent to 5.5 percent. County Fire Department Arson Investigation Unit Capt. Luis Cervantes said his seven investigators have carried pistols for decades and the new shooting bonus - a reward for becoming more proficient with a firearm firearm, device consisting essentially of a straight tube to propel shot, shell, or bullets by the explosion of gunpowder. Although the Chinese discovered gunpowder as early as the 9th cent., they did not develop firearms until the mid-14th cent. - is the first the department has ever received. The bonus can range as high as $32 a month. ``We're just looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. the same bonuses the (deputy) sheriffs have,'' Cervantes said. ``We have the same responsibilities they have. They receive shooting bonuses for being arson investigators.'' Although Cervantes doesn't recall any Fire Department employee ever having to shoot at someone, he said his investigators arrest dangerous criminals and occasionally have to pull their guns to make an arrest. Marie Nunez, spokeswoman for the county's Internal Services Department, said none of their department's 83 custodians currently receive the floor waxing or watchman bonus, but she said three of their employees are specifically assigned to ``floor waxing care.'' She noted most of the county's janitorial services were contracted out to private firms nearly two decades ago. ``All we know is that these bonuses are part of our memorandums of understanding (labor agreements) and if we had someone who fell into that category, we would be required by contract to pay these bonuses,'' Nunez said. The county currently has 121 different types of bonuses and premium-pay items that employees can tack onto their base salaries to help boost their pensions. Partly as a result of the court rulings that made such bonuses pensionable, county officials say that some employees earn more in retirement than what they made while working. ``Given the circumstances relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc the county's cafeteria plans Cafeteria Plan An employee benefit plan that allows staff to choose from a variety of benefits to formulate a plan that best suits their needs. Also known as "cafeteria employee benefit plan" or "flexible benefit plan". and the effects of the Ventura case, it is possible for a career employee with enough service and age to receive a pension benefit that is more than 100 percent of the individual's salary at the point of retirement,'' Chief Administrative Officer A chief administrative officer (CAO) is responsible for administrative management of private, public or governmental corporations. The CAO is one of the highest ranking members of an organization, managing daily operations and usually reporting directly to the chief executive David Janssen wrote in a prepared statement in response to Daily News questions. In addition to the pensionable bonuses, county employees can also use cash payouts for unused vacation, sick and holiday time to calculate their pensions. Cashing out four weeks of vacation time alone would boost a retirees' pension by 7.7 percent and cashing out unused sick and holiday time would increase it even more, Janssen wrote. Furthermore, elected officials and department heads can use their $450- $620 monthly vehicle allowances to boost their pensions. After some employees used ``cafeteria benefit cafeteria benefit n. A particular employee benefit selected from a company plan offering a variety of choices that can be balanced to suit individual needs. plans'' to boost their pensions by up to 19 percent in the early 1990s, the Board of Supervisors capped the pensionable amount at 1994 levels for existing employees and at $244 a month for employees hired in 1995. No employee hired since Jan. 1, 1996, receives any pensionable income from the benefit plans. In response to Public Records Act requests, pension systems in the city, county and state said they couldn't calculate how many retirees are earning more in retirement than what they made with their regular salary before retiring. But California State Teachers' Retirement System officials said 1,335 of their more than 188,000 retirees receive pensions higher than what they were earning when they retired. The highest-paid retiree earned $200,755 a year, up from a final salary of $191,667. An additional 6,527 earn more in retirement than their final salary due to cost-of-living increases. ``With the Ventura pension-spiking decision, public pensions certainly lend themselves to some pretty egregious e·gre·gious adj. Conspicuously bad or offensive. See Synonyms at flagrant. [From Latin abuses of the public purse,'' said Steven Frates, a senior fellow at the Rose Institute of State and Local Government In 1973, businesswoman, lawyer, feminist and activist Edessa Rose founded the Rose Institute of State and Local Government as a part of Claremont McKenna College to address issues specific to California’s state and local governments. at Claremont McKenna College A member of the Claremont Colleges, Claremont McKenna College is a small, highly selective, private coeducational, liberal arts college enrolling about 1100 students with a curricular emphasis on government, economics, and public policy. . Troy Anderson, (213) 974-8985 troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com EXTRA PAY These are some of the bonuses offered to local public employees: Los Angeles County Freezer work Custodian acting as watchman Slurry slurry, n a thin mixture of insoluble material floating in liquid. slurry solids in suspension. Used as a method of feeding pigs—slurry is pumped through fixed lines and delivered to troughs by hoses equipped with gasoline pump fittings. seal truck driver Custodian floor-waxing bonus Mortuary attendant Mammography mammography, diagnostic procedure that uses low-dose X rays to detect abnormalities in the breasts. The early diagnosis of breast cancer made possible by the routine use of mammography for screening women increases a woman's treatment alternatives and improves her technician Bilingual bonus City of Los Angeles
Handling trash Bilingual bonus Senior lead officer Patrol bonus SOURCE: City and County of Los Angeles CAPTION(S): box Box: EXTRA PAY (see text) |
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