The Montgomery County Council will reject a proposal from County Executive Ike Leggett that would slash employee benefits but also will discard a union-friendly decision to leave the perks largely unchanged, members said Thursday. Facing a $300 million shortfall, the council’s Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee unanimously voted against both plans, saying that Leggett’s proposal diminished paychecks too drastically for general government and public safety workers while sparing school employees from the same reductions.
But they also say that an arbitrator-backed ruling would do little to reverse the suburb’s seemingly annual shortfalls.
“I think we are going to make changes that achieve more savings, with more long-term impact,” said Councilman Hans Riemer, D-at large. “Leggett just missed a bunch of areas. His proposals — being generous — were rushed. He didn’t have time to do a good job with it.”
Under Leggett’s budget, nonschool employees would pay 2 percent more of their salaries for pension benefits and the county would cover 70 percent instead of 80 percent of the cost of health care plans.
Depending on their benefits plan, such a move would cost workers between $370 and $3,700 annually, officials said.
Whatever health benefit changes are approved, they won’t go into effect until January, council members said Thursday. Leggett proposed implementing the reductions July 1.
“We won’t go as far as Ike Leggett did,” said Councilman George Leventhal, D-at large. “But any changes we contemplate we want to the entire work force to undergo — including schools.”
By spreading the cuts across all agencies, council members say hundreds instead of potentially thousands of dollars would be taken from employees’ paychecks.
“There’s no reason to believe this year we won’t see reductions in cost of benefits,” said school board President Christopher Barclay, refusing to elaborate, pointing to ongoing negotiations with union leaders.
After the council formallyrejects the agreements next week, Leggett’s administration officials, County Council President Valerie Ervin and union leaders will return to the bargaining table.
Labor officials have been battling Leggett in court over his refusal to honor the arbitration process but said they were pleased with the council’s actions thus far. The county executive’s budget did not reflect the legally binding decision of an arbitrator, which essentially left benefits unchanged.
“The worst-case scenario is no longer an option; that’s a huge relief,” said Gino Renne, president of the Municipal and County Government Employees Organization. “We have some bottom lines, though. Savings cannot come at the expense of the spending capacity of our membership.”
During the past decade, health and retirement benefits increased more than 120 percent, while employee salaries grew 50 percent, according to an Office of Legislative Oversight report. The same analysis also found the average county employee costs taxpayers about $100,000 annually between salary and benefits — an increase of more than 50 percent over the last decade.
