Rohnert Park city manager to pay own benefits

<p>Rohnert Park's interim city manager has offered to pay his own retirement benefit costs, amounting to a 7 percent salary decrease, as the city continues to pare this year's budget.</p><p>“In the grand scheme of what we must accomplish, it is a small step,” said Dan Schwarz, the city's interim city manager. “But a great distance can be traversed with small steps.”</p><p>The council has cut $4.5 million from the budget for the fiscal year that began July 1, leaving a $3.2 million shortfall to be made up with reserves.</p><p>The reductions include early retirement packages that may be taken by as many as 16 city employees and reorganizing administrative departments. The city also is negotiating with the bargaining units representing all city workers, including its public safety officers, which will determine whether there may be more layoffs.</p><p>Schwarz told the council Tuesday his contract will be amended and that beginning Sept. 1 he will be paying into the CalPERS retirement fund. The city had been paying his $13,300 contributions as part of his annual $190,000 contract.</p><p>“He understands the gravity of the situation we are in, he clearly understands it is a structural deficit,” said Vice Mayor Gina Belforte. “For the long-term health of the city, it has been recommended we restructure our salary and benefit package, and that is what he is doing, being a leader and stepping up.”</p><p>Mayor Amie Breeze, however, said it might not be enough. “We do need this kind of leadership, but I will also say that we may need more,” Breeze said.</p><p>The city's six department heads, who are not part of a bargaining unit, have offered to pay their CalPERS contributions, a total of $50,000 a year.</p><p>Finance Director Sandy Lipitz said the council is waiting until negotiations are completed before acting on that request.</p><p>The council also approved putting out a request to hire a recruiter, at a cost of $20,000 to $25,000, in its search to replace City Manager Steve Donley, who resigned to remain on active duty in the Coast Guard.</p><p>Meanwhile, Schwarz will remain as the interim city manager, a position he assumed when Donley took a military leave last November.</p><p>The council Tuesday took no action on a proposal to hire the Lew Edwards Group of Oakland to survey the community with the possibility of putting a tax measure on the ballot next year. It asked for a breakdown on the costs for a contract that could be as much as $150,000 and for the subject be brought back to the next council meeting.</p><p>The city's budget consultant, Urban Futures, had recommended the council consider a local sales or parcel tax, city-wide assessment district, utility users tax or an increase in the business tax.</p>