RTM Approves Contract With Town Hall Employees

The Representative Town Meeting Monday night approved a three-year contract between the town and a union representing 84 Town Hall employees that requires for the first time that new hires move into a 401(a) type pension plan instead of the town's existing pension system.

"There are big concessions in this contract," Mary Carroll-Mirylees, director of the town's Human Resources Department, told the RTM. "I think this addressed what I heard you say you wanted."

The RTM had rejected a proposed contract between the town and union representing Town Hall employees last July, and Carroll-Mirylees said Monday night that she believed the RTM back then wanted employees on a 401(k) or 401(a) retirement plan, as well as to pay more toward their health insurance costs.

On health insurance, Carroll-Mirylees said the town was able to require employees to switch from paying a fixed dollar amount in co-premiums to a percentage with no cap. She added that co-payments also had gone up. Effective July 1, 2011, the co-share premium is 10 percent for current employees and 12 percent for new hires, and those figures rise, effective July 1, 2012, to 11 percent for current employees and 13 percent for new hires, according to a document given to the RTM. The increased co-pays are projected to save $36,461 in 2011-12 and $40,107 in 2012-13, according to the document.

The contract, which runs from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2013, calls for a 0 percent salary increase from July 1, 2010 to Dec. 31, 2010; a 1.5 percent increase from Jan. 1, 2011 to June 30, 2011; a 2.5 percent increase from July 1, 2011 to Dec. 31, 2011; a 0.5 percent increase from Jan. 1, 2012 to June 30, 2012; and a 3.5 percent increase from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013, according to the document.

The estimated cost of changes in the contract is $39,084 in the current fiscal year; a savings of $16,496 in fiscal year 2011-12; and $97,235 in fiscal year 2012-13, according to the document. The increased cost in 2012-13 is mostly due to the 3.5 percent salary increase, which is projected to cost $161,201.

The contract also calls for the employees to take an unpaid furlough day and a vacation day in 2011-12, at a total estimated savings of $17,714, according to the document.

Having new hires on a defined contribution plan instead of a defined benefits plan calls for the new employees to contribute at least 4 percent of their salary to the plan, though they can contribute the maximum allowed by law. The town would match contributions up to 5 percent, and the town's contributions would not vest until the employee had been continuously employed for five years, according to the document.

Moving to a defined contribution plan also requires the town to provide longterm disability benefits for the permanent and total disability of new employees at a rate of 50 percent of salary. The benefit, which is currently provided in the town's pension plan for existing employees, would be provided through insurance, according to the document.

First Selectman Ken Flatto said last summer that the average salary of an employee in the bargaining unit was $50,000.

The town still has expired contracts with six unions that represent police officers, firefighters, Department of Public Works' employees, nurses, telecommunicators and mid-management employees.

Several RTM members said Monday night that the contract between the town and Town Hall employees could set a precedent, or template, for contracts with the other six unions.