Chandler decides to continue merit bonuses

Nearly $300,000 to reward select Chandler city employees for exceptional performance will remain in next year’s budget despite a recent attempt to mothball the annual program.

The City Council last week also decided to ban city employees who accept early retirement or voluntary separation buyouts from working or contracting for the city for up to three years; to fund, at a reduced amount, several Fire Department programs aimed at child health and safety; and to reject calls to reinstate one park ranger and one code inspector position, whose combined pay would amount to about $120,000 a year.

City councilman Jeff Weninger sponsored the proposal to eliminate the exceptional merit and performance awards for employees, re-routing the $293,000 to be used at the discretion of City Manager Mark Pentz. Weninger’s was the only vote in support of the idea.

Along with councilman Rick Heumann, Weninger also supported barring city employees who took buyouts from returning to work for Chandler government as an employee or contractor for up to five years. Ultimately, however, the council enacted a three-year ban.

The move is meant to reassure taxpayers that employees aren’t taking a “golden parachute” and then returning to the same job soon after, Weninger said. It’s also intended to help cut the fat from personnel costs.

“The purpose of this is to eliminate positions,” he said. “I don’t see eliminating a position and then having them back a year from now.”

Chandler officials had been projecting a $21.5 million budget deficit next fiscal year, but state law requires a balanced budget. Next year’s total budget is more than $400 million smaller than that of the current fiscal year, according to a memo from Dawn Irvine, the city’s budget manager.

The City Council is expected to give final approval to a balanced budget of nearly $800 million for next fiscal year, 2009-10, on June 11.

The city’s solution to the budget problem has involved slashing its work force through buyouts and early retirement packages, cutbacks in department funding and employee-related programs, and potentially imposing new fees and fee hikes on everything from vehicle impounds to unpaid water bills.

In April, the council voted to offer employees early retirement and voluntary severance packages equal to three months of pay. The lump sum severance for the average employee amounts to a payment of about $20,000, officials have said.

Vice Mayor Bob Caccamo’s proposal to use city reserves to fund the Chandler Fire Department’s child car seat, child immunization and “urban survival education” programs for one year, was approved last week. While Caccamo had asked for nearly $82,000, the council agreed to put up $70,000.