A union leader says Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett is intentionally squashing savings proposals so he can blame employees for another gaping hole in the budget. “It pains me personally to see [Leggett] and his top management staff intent on using county workers as scapegoats in a political squabble,” wrote Gino Renne, president of the Municipal and County Government Employees Organization, in a letter to Office of Human Resources Director Joseph Adler. “We see the management posture as an indication that you want a fight to bolster your political message that the executive is ‘getting tough with the unions.'” During closed-door negotiations, Renne proposed that his members forgo annual increases in health and pension payments for a one-time savings of up to $26 million.
But officials within the Leggett administration privately called the maneuver a ploy that would leave the county executive on the hook for costlier concessions in the long run.
“We’re in collective bargaining; we’re not going to discuss that,” said Leggett spokesman Patrick Lacefield of the talks, which several participants called heated.
However, Leggett has said that the county’s looming $300 million shortfall would dictate his willingness to accept union proposals.
Both employee perks and the bargaining process have come under fire recently, as a county-appointed commission recommended more transparency in negotiations — and council members are targeting reductions in benefits.
Pay and benefits now account for 82 percent of all tax-supported spending, and the average county employee makes roughly $100,000 each year when benefits are included.
Still, Renne argues that his proposal would make a dent in a massive unfunded pension liability. But critics say the system needs a major overhaul instead.
Just half of Montgomery County general government employees receive traditional pensions in which retirees receive a set monthly payment from retirement until death. But that 50 percent of the county’s employees account for 88 percent of taxpayer money — $103 million — to be pumped into the retirement system this fiscal year.
In comparison, roughly the same number of workers enrolled in some form of a 401(k) arrangement — employers and employees make a fixed contribution to the retirement system with no guaranteed payout — will cost county residents roughly $13 million.
The negotiations will go before an arbitrator later this week.
