The justification of bond packages (increased taxes)
Top Richardson staffers paid more than $500,000 for unused time off
12:00 AM CDT on Monday, April 26, 2010
By IAN McCANN / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]
Richardson's top brass cashed in more than $500,000 in accrued sick and vacation time over the past three years of tight budgets and pay and hiring freezes.
Most, about $380,000, went to City Manager Bill Keffler, whose 2007 contract amendment lets him sell sick time as he chooses.
Mayor Gary Slagel defended the sick leave buyback, structured as a retention bonus. The council at the time approved it unanimously.
"It was a significant bonus, and we all felt it was the right thing to do," Slagel said. "We knew he was being approached by other organizations, and he still is. I don't regret it."
The perk sets Keffler apart from many of his peers – even Irving's Tommy Gonzalez, one of Texas' highest-compensated city managers.
Richardson Deputy City Manager Dan Johnson has cashed in about $126,000 in sick and vacation time. And assistant city managers and department heads are allowed to sell vacation time each December. Keffler defended the policies as a way to retain experienced senior staff members.
"All of our employees get offers all the time, and that is why we have to pay attention to the pay and benefit levels," he said.
Most cities allow employees to accrue large amounts of sick time, sometimes unlimited, and months' worth of vacation time. But only a few allow workers to cash the time in before retirement.
Some are scaling their leave programs back as a way to limit future budget liabilities.
Plano recently imposed a 12-week vacation accrual cap. It limits vacation buyback to 40 hours per year, which cost the city about $463,000 last year. The city's top executives accounted for just $6,455 of that. Sick-time buyback, paid into retirement accounts, cost Plano about $300,000 this year.
LaShon Ross, a Plano assistant city manager, said the city tightened its accrual rules to reduce long-term budget liability in the face of dire long-term budget forecasts.
Dallas' personnel rules prohibit selling vacation time, though exceptions may be granted.
Richardson employees can accrue up to four weeks of vacation and unlimited sick time. When they leave employment, vacation payout depends upon length of service, while sick-time pay is limited to 18 weeks. That policy also applies to Keffler.
"My alternative would have been to leave, and I've got that payout coming anyway," Keffler said. "Is it reasonable for me to put my family's best interests aside and say 'Thank you but no thank you' and put that benefit aside?"
After cashing in nearly 75 weeks of sick time and more than 10 weeks of vacation, Keffler today carries about three weeks of sick leave and 27 hours of vacation.
The bulk of Keffler's sick-time payment, nearly $255,000, came in 2007. Council member John Murphy described the employment agreement signed that March as "golden handcuffs" to keep Keffler on as city manager.
Keffler can cash in as much accrued sick time as he wants as long as he remains city manager through March 2012. Murphy said he believes allowing Keffler to more than double his salary in 2007 was a worthy expenditure for taxpayers.
"Those are expenses that are fully justified if the city is well run and the needs are being met," Murphy said. "Most of the businesses we have now wouldn't be there today if it were not for Bill Keffler."
Irving City Council members made a similar argument last year when they altered Gonzalez's contract. The council gave him a $150,000 loan and a $41,000 annual housing assistance grant for five years and let him cash in up to two weeks of vacation a year. City records show he did so in October, for a pre-tax payment of about $10,500.
Gonzalez, like all Irving employees, also is paid a bonus each year for unused sick time. Every November, employees are paid 25 percent of the value of sick time they accrued but did not use the previous year. For each of the past three years, about 1,000 employees have qualified, costing taxpayers more than $560,000 a year.
Generous benefit policies have long been used to keep people working in the public sector.
"You may not get the same rate of salary, but there's the stability and the benefits," said Ross, the Plano assistant city manager. "That's been the accepted rationale."
Or, as Keffler said: "What is a city manager worth? I'm responsible for an organization of 1,000 employees and a budget of $175 million. The council makes a value judgment they think is responsible."
