Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "furloughs"

311 call center to scale back service two days each month

2010-09-17T00:56:46Z

New budget cuts will cause the city’s popular 311 call service to shut down for all requests except emergencies for two Fridays per month, according to city officials.

The budget cuts result from the new contract for union employees represented by Stationary Engineers Local 39. As part of the union’s deal with the city, each member of Local 39 must take 88 hours of furlough time in the 2010/2011 fiscal year, and 96 furlough hours in the following fiscal year. Some of the union’s members work for 311, and they will be on furlough the two Fridays each month, according to city spokeswoman Amy Williams.

The call center’s new schedule with furloughs starts Sept. 17.

“We are unfortunately asking our constituents to be patient with us,” said Gina Knepp, division manager of 311.

Tens of thousands of people use the service to find information about city services, according to Knepp. The center receives an average of 1,500 phone calls each weekday, she said.

On average, 300-400 phone calls come in on Saturdays, Knepp said, adding that the call volume on Sundays is slightly lower than the volume on Saturdays.

This means that 311 receives an average of 30,000-35,000 phone calls per month, Knepp said.

In the last fiscal year, 311 received about 17,000 e-mailed requests, she added.

The call center will have employees on furlough Friday and Sept. 24. Starting in October, the center’s furloughs will be in effect on the second and fourth Fridays of every month.

“On those days, only limited staff will be on duty, and only emergency calls can be handled,” according to a Sept. 13 e-mail that General Services Director Reina Schwartz sent to the City Council.

In the city’s definition, 311 emergency calls could involve “injured animals, water, sewer or drain emergencies, roadway hazards and traffic signal malfunctions.”

In the past, the city received many compliments from citizens about 311, City Councilman Ray Tretheway said. But the call center is putting people on hold for longer periods of time as well as experiencing furloughs, he added.

The 311 cutbacks show “reality setting in of the severity of our budget cuts,” Tretheway said.

Southside Park resident Joy Korstjens said she uses 311 every couple months, adding that she’s more likely to use the 311@cityofsacramento.org e-mail service.

She said she is disappointed about the cuts to the 311 service, but also expressed sympathy for furloughed 311 employees. Korstjens, an employee at the state Department of Consumer Affairs, must take three furlough Fridays each month.

“As someone who is also furloughed, I feel bad for the employees,” Korstjens said.

The furloughs for 311 employees will affect their salaries, as well as add to their workloads when they return to work on Monday, she said.

Meanwhile, Knepp provided the text of the message that citizens will hear Friday if they call 311:

“Hello. You have reached Sacramento City 311. All calls may be recorded for quality monitoring purposes.

“It is Friday, Sept. 17th. The 311 Call Center will only be available for emergency calls today. Please stay on the line if you are reporting an emergency such as: injured animals, water, sewer or drain emergencies, roadway hazards and traffic signal malfunctions. An agent will assist you shortly.

“For all other inquiries, please call again tomorrow when we are open for full service.

“If your request is non-urgent and you prefer, you may e-mail us by writing to 311@cityofsacramento.org. Thank you, and we do apologize for any inconvenience.”

Read the Sept. 13 e-mail that city staff sent to the City Council here.

Here is a list of the dates that 311 will be closed for calls that do not involve emergencies:

Sept. 17
Sept. 24
Oct. 8
Oct. 22
Nov. 12
Nov. 26
Dec. 10
Dec. 24
Jan. 14
Jan. 28
Feb. 11
Feb. 25
March 11
March 25
April 8
April 22
May 13
May 20
June 10
June 17

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

A deeper look at changes to police chief's salary

2010-09-10T03:41:40Z

At first glance, it appears that Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel is raking in the money this year. In just the last three months, he garnered an 8 percent salary increase and a new retirement perk.

However, Braziel’s salary and benefit gains are not as simple as meets the eye. There’s a back story that involves the timing of Braziel’s raise.

Police Department spokeswoman Laura Peck and city spokeswoman Amy Williams both emphasized that Braziel’s raise is not a new development, because the city has owed him the extra money for years. Peck said she could respond to questions without the need for the chief to comment directly to The Sacramento Press.

To make sense of the information, The Sacramento Press asked city staffers to explain Braziel’s raise and new retirement benefit.

Braziel now earns an annual base salary of $198,262 after his mandatory furlough time is subtracted from his pay.

When Braziel became the Police Department’s head in 2008, “he voluntarily took a 12 percent decrease in pay with the understanding with the city manager at the time that it would be restored in 6-12 months,” Williams wrote in a e-mail.

Mandatory furloughs made up 4 percent of the 12 percent decrease, said Konrad von Schoech, a police department spokesman.

When Braziel received an 8 percent raise in June, it was a restoration of the amount he had not been paid earlier, Williams said.

At the same time, Braziel received the raise when he chose to stay in Sacramento after applying for a police chief job in Seattle earlier this year.

Braziel earned the 8 percent raise June 5 — four days before he announced to the public that he would not leave Sacramento. He said at a June 9 press conference that the raise was not the reason he chose to stay in the city.

His raise comes from the city’s general fund and was approved by Interim City Manager Gus Vina, Williams wrote.

Braziel, who has worked for the city for 30 years, also received a “senior employee pay” benefit last month. Williams’ statistics show that Braziel is one of 153 longtime city employees who are using the benefit, which boosts an employee’s retirement compensation after the employee retires. Furloughs offset the program’s costs to the city, Williams wrote.

Employees enrolled in the program have participated in the Public Employees Retirement System or the Sacramento City Employees Retirement System for at least 25 years, according to a city staff report. The program will expire in June 2013, the report said.

As police chief, Braziel is considered a department director.

Figures provided by Williams show that Braziel earns the highest salary of his 10 other counterparts at City Hall, all of whom make six-figure salaries. Marty Hanneman, director of the Utilities Department, is second to Braziel in earnings with a base salary after furloughs of $177,512.

A link to information about the salaries of department heads and other city officials was recently posted on the front page of the city’s website. “It was posted a few weeks ago after the Bell City scandal,” Williams said. “We were getting a lot of media calls asking for salary information, and we wanted to be transparent.”

Here is a list of the names and salaries of the city’s 11 department heads after furloughs are accounted for:

Rick Braziel, police chief: 198,262

Martin Hanneman, director of utilities: 177,512

Ray Jones, fire chief: 169,824

James Combs, director of parks and recreation: 159,919

Reina Schwartz, director of general services: 159,858

Barbara Bonebrake, director of convention, culture & leisure: 158,375

Max Fernandez, director of community development: 156,855

Jerry Way, director of transportation: 149,873

Geri Hamby, director of human resources: 144,414

James Rinehart, director of economic development: 139,872

Leyne Milstein, director of finance: 125,211

Read city spokeswoman Amy William’s responses to Sacramento Press questions about department director salaries here.

Read an Aug. 10 report report from city staff that includes information about the “senior employee pay program” here.

Sacramento Press staff reporter Suzanne Hurt contributed to this report.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Funding California's Future

2009-10-21T03:01:06Z

Times are tough for college students in California.

State grants are being cut drastically due to budget cuts and Furloughs are closing down entire campuses on non-holidays. It is looking grim for the future of higher education.

Assembly Bill 656, introduced by Majority Leader Alberto Torrico, proposes a gas and oil severance tax in California that could make for a brighter future.

AB 656 was introduced on Feb. 25 and had minor alterations since, the last being on July 7. Currently states with oil supplies, such as Alaska and Texas, have oil severance taxes that help fund higher education and proponents of AB 656 are looking to do the same.

"Fees have increased in eight out of the last 10 years, a 33 percent increase this year at the CSU and UC system alone and financial aid has been reduced, class offerings have been reduced, class sizes have increased," Torrico said. "We're really starting to decimate higher education in California, so there seems to be a bad trend and if we want to invest in our future and invest in young people, we're going to have to put more money into higher education."

In 1994, tuition in the CSU System was $1,428 a year and at the beginning of the 2009/2010 school year tuition was $4,026 a year, one semester costing more than tuition for a full year in 1994.

Torrico had help writing the bill from several assembly members, as well as Senator DeSaulnier and statewide California Faculty Association(CFA). Sacramento State CFA President Kevin Wehr said CFA helped sponsor the bill and pitched the idea to Torrico.

"Majority Leader Torrico agreed that (the bill) was a good idea and proposed it to the assembly," Wehr said. "but we did help with some of the languages and the concepts."

According to the AB 656, a 9.9 percent oil severance tax would be implemented on oil drilling and funding would go toward a California higher education fund and would need to be passed by two-thirds of the assembly.

Torrico said the fund would generate about $1 billion a year and a commission would have to be established to manage the funds.

Assemblywoman Connie Conway, opponent of the bill, said there are better ways to help fund higher education then through AB 656, such as a better disbursement of tax dollars because they are being mismanaged. She said forming a commission to manage the funds is also an unnecessary investment and that money should be put toward higher education.

"Education is important and getting to a place were we can be more supportive and getting to a place where we can be more supportive of education would be great for the California State Legislature," Conway said. "I'm just not sure that this was the right vehicle tying oil production to education. It would create a commission to oversee it and those are so very costly - I'd rather put that money into education."

Conway said she was recently appointed to the Disability Access Commission where they discussed budget and as of now it has cost the state $80,000 to start the commission. The budget would cover the cost of staff and other important miscellaneous expenses.

Regardless of the position being taken in the assembly, students are feeling the impact on campuses around California.

Senior history major Andrew Haas said he believes California's educational system will impact future generations.

"I think we have a big problem with higher education as far as funding," Haas said. "The biggest impact, I think, is that just the fact that higher education, especially here in Sacramento is supposed to propel the city forward and we're the future leaders of the city."

Wehr agreed with Hass. Wehr believes that by no adequately funding higher education, students will be weeded out and the future of California could be greatly affected.

"We are on a downward spiral, right now, our higher education funding here in California has been squeezed and cut for the last six years," Wehr said. "We're actually at approximately half of where we were six years ago, and it's going to keep being a problem."

Wehr said institutions of higher education don't expect to see funding form the state's general fund any time soon - that is why the bill is proposing a dedicated revenue stream. He said the legislature should focus more on higher education because students are the future of California and they will be the ones who will take California out this depression.

According to an Associated Press article released in 2007, California is no longer the sixth largest economy in the world. As of 2007, California was ranked eighth.

The fear of many proponents of the bill is that many people will have less access to higher education and it will affect California's economy directly. And some students, such as freshmen civil engineering major Laura Araque, fear that they will get cheated out of a quality education.

"A lot of people will probably wanting to stop going to school," Araque said. "because why pay so much for so little education."

Sacramento Dems to Discuss Furloughs, the Elk Grove City Charter, AB 138 at Monthly Meeting

2009-07-14T19:12:01Z

The Democratic Party of Sacramento County (DPSC) will hold its monthly meeting today (July 14) at 6 p.m. in room 127 of the State Capitol Building. The DPSC will discuss furloughs for Sacramento County and State workers and their impact on families and the local economy.
DPSC Treasurer, Guy Crouch will present Assembly Bill 138, which would enact a mandatory peer review requirement for California accounting firms that provide any audit, review or compilation services. The DPSC will consider taking a position on the legislation.

Elk Grove City Councilmember and Congressional candidate Gary Davis will be at the meeting to discuss the Elk Grove City Charter.

Finally, California Attorney General Candidate Alberto Torrico and Congressional Candidate Joan Buchanan will be in attendance to discuss their campaigns.

Mayor Johnson: state worker layoffs could damage local economy

2009-06-04T04:06:21Z

Mayor Kevin Johnson told media outlets earlier this week that possible layoffs of state workers may harm the city’s economy.

Layoffs for about 5,000 state workers have been proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to address the state’s $24.3 billion deficit. Local governments throughout the state may be impacted by state budget cuts, Johnson said. But because many Sacramento residents are state workers, the city faces “a double whammy.”

Sacramento is “very uniquely positioned as a state capital city to get hit twice,” Johnson said Tuesday.

Johnson went on to say that if these workers are laid off, they may not be able to make their mortgage payments. In turn, these residents may foreclose on their homes, and add to the city’s foreclosure problems, Johnson said.

Johnson is also worried that an additional proposed furlough day for state workers would discourage residents from shopping and spending money in Sacramento. When furloughs are in place, “those workers don’t come downtown,” Johnson said. “They don’t shop at our retail outlets, and they don’t dine at our restaurants.”

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

One idea for how to enjoy your furlough days

2009-02-05T00:48:35Z

If you're one of the approximately 100,000 Sacramentans who may have two extra free days a month, thanks to likely furloughs of state workers this month, you're in luck.

No, you're not going to get that 10 percent of your income back. But with snow on the way this week, you have another option: Ski Squaw.

The Squaw Valley Ski Resort announced today that it is offering furloughed state workers a deal on ski lift tickets - alliteratively known as Furlough Fridays - the first and third Fridays of the month. And the first one is this Friday, Feb. 6.

All California State employees affected by the furloughs will be able to ski or snowboard at Squaw Valley for only $30. To purchase the tickets, one need only bring one's state ID card or a recent State of California pay stub (dated 2009 only) and a valid photo ID to the "D" ticket booth between 8:30 and 11 a.m.

Squaw Valley will be offering the $30 Furlough Friday tickets this Friday, as well as Feb. 20, March 6 and March 20, or until the budget debacle is resolved and the furloughs are no longer in effect. The normal cost of a lift ticket at Squaw is a substantial $79.

The resort's SnowSports School is also offering a discount: two-for-one deals on ski or snowboard lessons for $49 for two people. This offer is available to anyone, not just state workers, and is offered seven days a week.

For more information on Furlough Fridays, visit www.squaw.com.

Judge OKs governor's furlough plan

2009-01-29T19:07:19Z

In a ruling that will have immediate impact on the economy of Sacramento, Superior Court Judge Patrick Marlette ruled Thursday that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is within his legal rights to furlough state workers.

The governor issued an executive order in December proposing to reduce state workers' hours by two days per month. Workers unions immediately sued in response, and today's hearing was meant to resolve the issue.

"I cannot help but recognize the huge impact this will have on state workers," Judge Marlette said.

Judge Marlette also noted that it was not his job to rule on whether the furloughs were the right solution to the problem, but only that the governor had the legal authority.

Attorneys for state workers unions and State Controller John Chiang argued that the governor's order violated collective bargaining agreements, and said that they would seek further legal remedies.

But for now, the ruling means that state workers may lose nearly 10 percent of their monthly pay.

Judge Marlette's ruling will be posted on the Superior Court's website this afternoon.

David Watts Barton reported and wrote this article.