By: Diane Benjamin
http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=21517
5 more employees are spiking their pensions- Sick Leave Buy Back:
The $1,600 charged by the EDC (not including travel) so Tari could attend One Voice didn’t cover the expenses:
Did you know when you use a credit card the merchant gets charged a fee for processing? Fees vary, hopefully somebody is comparing them occasionally.
If citizens pay their bills to the City of Bloomington by credit card, they are charged before they get the money. All of the below are on the payments list for Monday – PDF page 98 and following. These total $95,008.40 for November thru February. That means in one year likely around $300,000 goes for nothing but processing fees.
Just switch to debit cards with a ceiling amount! Save $300,000 per year!!!
Public works employees are retiring because they know the sick leave buyout is changing.
It could only happen soon enough to change it.
Two questions for the City Manager: 1.) How many people left qualify for SLBB? 2.) How many would retire immediately?
I say force their hand to retire if you aren’t going to change the program and continue to allow people to do this. Whether it’s this year or next or two years down the road, you’re going to have the pay the money anyway if you don’t change the program. If they retire now and aren’t maxed out, it will save money down the road. Just say you won’t be able to offer raises to anyone without a contract or insert raises into new contracts for anyone until the SLBB payouts are completed.
The City appears to be in the process of FINALLY writing SLBB out of union contracts. There is now a rush to retire to collect!
In the Business world these days, if you use plastic it is not uncommon to have to pay 3% for using it. Not saying every business but it appears to be expanding.
Years ago it was a standard 3%, competition has provided a variety of rates now.