Brigantine Taxpayers & City Council Considers Union Contracts.
BrigantineNOW reader Robert Keane offers his take on the financial challenges that Brigantine taxpayers face with City union contracts. Here it is…. If you wonder how Brigantine’s municipal employee are able to accumulate such significant cash outs upon retirement you need to review their contract. For example, on Page 16 “Overtime Rules”, it stipulates that any overtime hours can be paid in “monetary form” or “compensatory form”. If they select the later, they can accumulate up to 480 hrs AND they can be carried over from year to year.
There are two issues associated with this. One, are ALL accumulated and carried forward amounts valued as of the year they were earned or are they valued when the person leaves/retires? Second, has the city established an annual funding of this increasing liability or does it ultimately establish an “emergency funding” as we witnessed with the recent announcement of three retirements?
I am not challenging the contract, I am simply attempting to share the future financial challenges this, and any other municipal contract presents to the taxpayers of Brigantine.
Robert Keane.
Subscribe BrigantineNOW
When I ret. in May of 1992,I actually left the Dept. in Sept 1991,as I had amassed enough sick and overtime to carry me on the books,until may 92..It sounds like the same contract the city had AGREED to back over 20 yrs ago…This is fairly common in most public safety depts.,Lt. J.J. Tynan, ret..Long Key,Fl.