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This article was published 12 year(s) ago

Lynn to pay out $2.87M in longevity pay for 2013-14

Thor Jourgensen

June 19, 2013 by Thor Jourgensen

LYNN – The city?s $266.4 million spending plan for 2013-14 includes salary bonuses for senior city workers that, in some municipal departments, have nearly doubled over the past 10 years.City Council members voted 7-3 to approve the budget Tuesday after councilors William Trahant Jr., Darren Cyr and Peter Capano unsuccessfully pleaded with colleagues to delay the vote a week and ask Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy to boost Public Works spending.The trio said DPW?s 49-employee workforce needs to be expanded to handle snow plowing, tree stump removal and other work. Ward 4 Councilor Richard Colucci voted “present” on the budget and said he was attempting to reach out to Kennedy when the vote was taken.Longevity pay is a $2.87 million expense in the city budget divided among the various city offices, with amounts paid to employees tied to the number of years they have worked for the city. Municipal unions negotiate longevity with most contracts providing a bonus equivalent to 3 percent of a worker?s salary after five years on the job and escalating to a 5 percent bonus after 10 years.?It?s all collectively bargained – it?s contractual,” said City Council President and mayoral candidate Timothy Phelan.The Lynn Teachers Union contract provides school employees with 30 years or more of city service with a 17 percent longevity pay boost. Other contracts set 20 years as a longevity threshold with employees receiving at least 12 percent longevity when they hit that seniority mark.Sixteen police officers hired in 1993 hit the 20-year mark this year, and Police Chief Kevin Coppinger said another 21 hired in 1995 during an era when former President Clinton made community police spending a priority, are approaching 20 years.A glance at city budgets dating back to 2004 shows Police Department longevity costs jumped from $710,000 in 2004 to $1.47 million spent this year. Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy budgeted $1.38 million for police longevity for the spending year that starts July 1.Coppinger said retirements, including the gradual exodus of 25 officers hired in 1985, will reduce longevity costs.?We?re into a transition period. That longevity number should decrease as people retire,” Coppinger said.With older firefighters retiring and new ones gradually being hired, longevity has stayed relatively stable over the past 10 years as a roughly $850,000 annual Fire Department expense.The same has held true in the Public Works department and public library, but longevity costs doubled, even tripled, over the past 10 years in smaller city offices, including Parking, Solicitor?s and the City Council.Longevity represented a $4,800 cost in 2004 for council clerks before jumping to $11,400 spent this year.Parking Department longevity totaled $18,700 in 2004 and Kennedy budgeted $43,400 for the upcoming spending year. Solicitor?s office longevity totaled $16,900 in 2004 and the mayor budgeted $34,000 for the spending year that starts on July 1.Councilor at large Daniel Cahill said City Hall proposals aimed at altering longevity, such as “rolling it into” the base pay for municipal salaries, are rare.?I haven?t heard of any discussions or alternatives to longevity,” he said.Longevity isn?t the city?s only big-ticket budget item: City insurance costs cross the $1 million mark in the upcoming spending year with the $112,000 cost hike representing the biggest city insurance increase in a decade, according to city budget figures.City Chief Financial Officer Richard Fortucci said the latest increase reflects insurance claims associated with Sewell-Anderson School flood damage in January and a $300,000 judgment paid to an Anchor Road church congregation following an April federal court settlement.By contrast, the city budgeted $780,000 for insurance in 2005.Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].

  • Thor Jourgensen
    Thor Jourgensen

    A newspaperman for 34 years, Thor Jourgensen has worked for the Item for 29 years and lived in Lynn 20 years. He has overseen the Item's editorial department since January 2016 and is the 2015 New England Newspaper and Press Association Bob Wallack Community Journalism Award recipient.

    View all posts

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