Santa Rosa city workers agree to pay cuts, wage freeze

<p>Santa Rosa City Manager Kathy Millison hailed City Hall staffers Friday for their willingness to help the city ride out tough financial times with continuing employee givebacks in the 2012-13 fiscal year that promise about $2.2 million in new savings.</p><p>Tentative agreements reached Friday with bargaining units for more than 800 of the city's 1,200 non-public-safety workers include a 3.08 percent pay cut, principally through unpaid furlough days, and a freeze on wage increases, Millison said.</p><p>Previous changes in the distribution of health care costs agreed to last year by miscellaneous employee groups mean an ongoing savings of $700,000 a year, as well, Millison said.</p><p>“Our employees understand the City's financial challenges and want to help,” Millison said in a written statement released late Friday. “This is the third successive year that most of our miscellaneous employees have come forward with contract concessions.”</p><p>For most employees, the pay cuts will be seen largely through 64 hours of unpaid furlough time that the majority will take during Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday office closures, Millison said.</p><p>About 41 unrepresented employees, including executive staff, also agreed to 3.08 percent reductions, with executives paying an additional 2 percent of their salaries toward their pensions, for a total contribution of at least 10 percent, Millison said.</p><p>Both represented and unrepresented miscellaneous employee groups last year agreed to about $3 million in concessions through health care reductions and furlough time, resulting in a savings to the General Fund of about $1.5 million, Millison said.</p><p>Similar savings were reached the previous year.</p><p>The City Council is scheduled to take action on the tentative agreements for the 2012-2013 year at its April 3 meeting, Millison said.</p>