Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Sun Valley police chief says officers need better benefits

City ranks low in compensation compared to others in Idaho


By AMY BUSEK
Express Staff Writer

Sun Valley police officer Tuyen Nguyen prepares to head out on patrol in his squad car Monday. Chief Walt Femling says officers pay too much out of pocket for insurance premiums and don’t make enough to eke out a living in the Wood River Valley. Photo by Roland Lane

    Citing issues with recruitment and retention, Sun Valley Police Chief Walt Femling on Thursday presented recommendations to the City Council to “sweeten the deal” for the city’s police force. Retaining good officers is difficult, Femling said, particularly with Blaine County’s high costs of living.
    Among his proposals are providing 100 percent health insurance coverage, a 20 percent increase in sick leave accrual, and allowing vacation carryover of up to 200 hours. Femling also presented data showing that Sun Valley’s police officers make one of the lowest hourly wages in the state, though he did not make specific recommendations on salary increases.
    While Femling made a case for better police benefits, City Administrator Susan Robertson said any changes would impact all 22 city employees. City benefits were cut during the preliminary budget proceedings for the 2013-2014 fiscal year, according to Mayor Dewayne Briscoe. Briscoe said the reductions were proposed by Councilman Bob Youngman during the second budget hearing and passed in a 3-1 vote in August 2012, overriding a mayoral veto from Briscoe.  
    “They passed with minimal comments and I think it was an overcorrection of past problems,” Briscoe said.
    Femling, formerly the sheriff of Blaine County, said the deficient salary and benefits package available for his squad became apparent to him last year, when three officers tendered their resignation on his first day as chief.
    Femling obtained statewide data collected by a human resource consulting group on health insurance, vacation accrual and salary information for city employees and police officers. Unlike most of the statewide governments’ vacation policies, Sun Valley employees stop accruing vacation hours past 10 years of employment: it’s capped at 13.3 hours per month, regardless of whether the employees worked there for 11 years or 20. Most Idaho employers increase the vacation time incrementally every five years, the data shows.
    “I’ve hired eight people in a year and a half,” Femling said. “The first thing they ask me is, ‘Will you send me the benefits?’ They look at that and say, ‘No thanks. I can’t afford to make that move.’”
    The average hourly wage for an Idaho police officer, according a recent study, is $24.31. In Sun Valley, the average is just under $23 an hour. The lowest paid officer on the Sun Valley force makes $20.51 an hour, while the lowest-paid officers in Hailey and Ketchum make $21.77 and $21.17, respectively.
    With 25 percent of health care costs paid by the employee under Sun Valley’s current plan and a percentage taken out for retirement, “that 20 bucks doesn’t go far,” Femling said, particularly for police officers with spouses and children. The employee cost for family coverage is 30 percent for their spouse and 20 percent for dependents.
    “We’re not making a ton of money here,” he said. “When you add those benefit costs on top of these guys, they’re struggling.”
    Femling also emphasized a need for more compensation time, particularly for city jobs that are physically taxing. For street, fire and police departments, a “fit for duty” standard needs to be maintained for all employees. If an officer was out for a four-month knee surgery recovery, he’d only get his full salary for a month and a half and would then rely on a much lower worker’s compensation for the remainder of his recovery, Femling said.
    Briscoe said he created a committee to make council recommendations regarding changes to the city benefit package and the issue will be followed up at a November meeting.
Amy Busek: abusek@mtexpress.com


Recommended changes to Sun Valley city benefits
1. The city pays 100% health insurance premium for employees for an impact of $12,909 annually.
2. Employee cost for family insurance coverage decreases from 25 percent to 20 percent for an impact of $5,322 annually. Lower the premiums paid for spouses and children.
3. Reinstating the one-week vacation that previously funded sabbatical leave.
4. Allow vacation carryover to not exceed 200 hours.
5. Increase sick leave to 480 hours, from 400.
6. Employees who leave the city in good standing and/or retire may use the balance of their sick leave to purchase Cobra insurance for up to 18 months for an impact of $8,802 annually.
7. Employees can choose to get paid overtime when they work on holidays or can accrue that day to take off later.
8. Reinstate wellness program at a cap of $750 per employee, including elected officials.
9. Allow police, fire and street department employees to accrue a maximum of 80 hours of comp time.
10. Grant employees three personal days annually without the option of getting personal days paid out at the end of employment.


 




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