Commission Meeting Agenda Item

Agenda Item

Consideration of Approval of the Re-Opener Changes to the Agreement between the Town of Lady Lake (TOLL) and the Florida Police Benevolent Association (PBA) for the Period of October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022

Department

Human Resources

  1. Staff recommends approval of the re-opener changes to Articles 14 and 21 of the agreement between the Town of Lady Lake and Florida Police Benevolent Association for the period of October 1, 2021 through September 30, 1022, as presented.
  2. Staff recommends approval of the Memorandum of Understanding for the Facial Hair Agreement, which will not be incorporated into the contract.

Summary

The Town received notification of ratification on Wednesday, July 14, 2021. Effective October 1, 2021.

Article 14 — Wages

14.1 — For the October 1, 2021 fiscal year, all bargaining unit employees will receive a 2% across the board wage increase and be eligible for a performance increase of up to 2%.

14.2 — Effective October 1, 2021, the base pay ranges for unit members shall be as set below:

POLICE OFFICER OR INVESTIGATOR

Minimum hourly Annualized Maximum hourly Annualized
$19.81 $43,265.04 $29.71 $64,889.70

POLICE CORPORAL

Minimum hourly Annualized Maximum hourly Annualized
$22.17 $48,409.67 $33.25 $72,618.00

POLICE SERGEANT

Minimum hourly Annualized Maximum hourly Annualized
$25.71 $56,159.38 $38.57 $84,240.20

14.3 — Unit members receiving an across the board or performance increase that would result in being paid over the maximum of their pay classification shall be brought to the maximum of the range and given the difference in a quarterly bonus check between the maximum salary range and the amount of the wage increase. Unless the Police Chief determines that prior law enforcement employment experience dictates a higher starting salary (not to exceed 10% of the minimum for the position), newly-hired employees will be paid at the minimum wage rate for the position hired. The Town may elect to pay a sign-up bonus to a new officer who has prior law enforcement experience.

14.4 — Unit members whose scheduled shift begins at 1730 hours shall be entitled to shift differential pay of an additional $1.00 per hour for time worked through 0530 hours. Unit members whose scheduled shift begins at 1800 hours shall be entitled to shift differential pay of an additional $1.00 per hour for time worked through 0600 hours. Unit members whose scheduled shift extends into the period from 1800 hours to 0600 hours shall be entitled to shift differential pay of an additional $1.00 per hour for scheduled time (no overtime or any time held over your scheduled time) worked between 1800 hours and 0600 hours.

14.5 — Unit members below the rank of Corporal and who are Certified Field Training Officers will be paid an additional $1.00 per hour for all hours in which they are actively engaged in field training assignments.

14.6       On call compensation. Unit members assigned to CID or Traffic Homicide Investigations (THI) and who are placed in an on call status, shall receive an additional four hours of straight-time base pay for each week in which the employee is on call. On call pay shall not be counted as hours worked for purposes of overtime compensation, except that any hours worked by the employee in the event he or she is actually called in to work shall be counted as hours worked.

Article 21 Pension

21.1       The Town agrees to continue to maintain a local law pension plan for all unit members pursuant to the provisions set forth by Florida Statute 185.35. The Town shall negotiate with the PBA any benefits and/or changes to the local pension plan as recommended by the members of the Pension Board, and submitted to the Commissioners for approval. The current employee contribution to the local pension plan shall not exceed 5%.

21.1:1   Effective as of ratification of this Agreement by the unit members and approval of this Agreement and an amendment to the applicable pension ordinance by the Town Commission, the pension plan shall provide:

  1. “Normal Retirement Date” shall be defined as age 55 years and 8 years of credited service or 20 years of credited service regardless of age.
  2. “Early Retirement Date” shall be defined to reduce the required credited service from 10 years to 8 years.
  3. For vesting purposes, the required years of credited service shall be reduced from 10 years to 8 years.
  4. The pension multiplier shall be increased from 3.3% to 3.5%.

21.2       Per Section 185.02(4), Florida Statutes, the 300-hour annual limitation of overtime that can be used when calculating retirement benefits will be applied on a fiscal year basis.

21.3       Anyone who retires on or after the effective date of this contract and who receives lump sum payments of PTO which would otherwise be included for pension purposes as ‘salary’ under the current definition may receive pension credit for such sums, subject to the following:

The First-In First-Out (FIFO) method will be used. This means that the balance of vacation time accrued and unused as of September 1, 2014 will be deemed the frozen amount. This frozen amount cannot be increased, and any vacation time taken after the signing of this contract will reduce the initial frozen amount. Any remaining balance of this initial frozen amount will be paid out upon termination of employment with the Town of Lady Lake at the then current rate of pay and will be used in the pension credit calculation. Any vacation hours accrued after the signing of this contract and unused at the time of termination of employment with the Town of Lady Lake will be paid out at the then current rate of pay but will not be used in the pension credit calculation.

21.4       Share Plan

Pursuant to state statutes, a Share Plan account has been established for each current participant. Future funding of the Share Plan accounts shall be determined by the parties after reconciliation of any excess premium taxes monies derived from Chapter 185. Excess State Monies shall be defined as any amounts received from the State from premium tax monies which is in excess of $110,000 annually. Excess State Monies from Reserve will be distributed as it becomes available in the following manner:

21.4:1 One-half will be used to reduce unfunded liabilities of the Police Officers’ Pension Fund and one-half will be used to create a share plan for existing Police Officers’ Pension Fund plan members who have a minimum of one (1) full year continuous service immediately prior to the end of the Plan’s fiscal year which ends on September 30th. The methodology for allocation of the funds shall be that each qualified member shall receive an equal amount of the declared Excess State Monies.

Facial Hair — Policy Only — Language will be added to PPM 1400 to allow facial hair. Beards or goatees are permitted under the following guidelines:

The beard or goatee must be trimmed to a length no longer than ¼ inch.

The beard or goatee must be neatly trimmed and consistent with the cheekbone area (for beards) and also at or above the jaw line at all times with no hair under the chin or on the neck (for beards or goatee).

The Chief of Police may terminate approval for facial hair at any time and for any reason.

Officers who failure to follow these beard/goatee guidelines will have the privilege of wearing a beard or goatee revoked.

Fiscal Impact

Not applicable.

Source of Funding

Budgeted.

Funding Account

Not applicable.

TD/ns

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