The City of Sparks, Nevada provides resolutions defining salaries and benefits for employees not covered by a collective bargaining agreement as defined in N.R.S. 288. The city’s executive employees are covered by Resolution No. 3328  under consideration.  The titles covered here have been grouped in this Resolution due to the nature of positions, distinct from Resolutions covering other types of employees at the City of Sparks. The proposal contained herein updates the provisions for providing said salary and benefits for this group of employees for a new three-year Resolution term.  Attached to this report are the proposed strike-out version and final version of Resolution No. 3288, and a financial impact statement.

Executive Employee Resolution No. 3278 was approved by the Council on June 8, 2015 and it expired June 30, 2017. The new Resolution No. 3328 will cover the period July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2020.

Substantive changes include:

Section 1: Administration, Article C: Effective Date.   This section was changed to reflect the new Resolution period of July 1, 2017 thru June 30, 2020. There is no direct cost related to this Resolution change.

Section 2: Pay, Article A: Pay Rates.

The following pay increases are contained in the Resolution:

Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA).

Effective the first full pay period following July 1, 2017, employees shall receive a cost of living adjustment (COLA) of 1.8% above the base salary rate in effect June 30, 2017.

For Department Heads, the cost of this COLA is an estimated $17,000 to the general fund and $7,000 to other funds per fiscal year for FY18, FY19 and FY20.  In addition, by Municipal Code, there is a financial impact for the City Attorney and Municipal Court Judges.  Their salaries are set based upon the salaries in the Executive Resolution.  The cost of this COLA for them is an estimated $11,000 to the general fund per fiscal year for FY18, FY19 and FY20.

Effective the first full pay period after July 1, 2018, a COLA will be calculated as follows:  The Consumer Price Index (CPI) will be referenced to determine the COLA amount.  The parameters for the calculation are that regardless of the CPI value, the COLA shall be no less than 1.0% and no greater than 3.0%.  The specific CPI is for the selected areas, all items index - Western Urban Size B/C - 50,000 to 1,500,000.  This CPI is a non-seasonally adjusted, annual index and will be rounded to the nearest tenth decimal point of the value in December of 2017 (CPI Series ID: CUURX400SA0).

The cost of this COLA to Department Heads is reported as a range because it is dependent upon the CPI to be determined at a future date.  It is an estimated $10,000 to $30,000 to the general fund and $4,000 to $12,000 to other funds per fiscal year in FY19 and FY20.  In addition, there is a cost associated with the salary changes for the City Attorney and Municipal Court Judges.  This cost estimate is a range of $7,000 to $20,000 to the general fund per fiscal year in FY19 and FY20.

Effective the first full pay period after July 1, 2019, a COLA will be calculated as follows:  The Consumer Price Index (CPI) will be used to determine the COLA amount.  The parameters for the calculation are that regardless of the CPI value, the COLA shall be no less than 1.0% and no greater than 3.0%.  The specific CPI agreed to by the parties is for the selected areas, all items index - Western Urban Size B/C - 50,000 to 1,500,000.  This CPI is a non-seasonally adjusted, annual index and will be rounded to the nearest tenth decimal point of the value in December of 2018 (CPI Series ID: CUURX400SA0).

The financial impact of the third year COLA is also reported as a range.  For Department Heads, the estimated cost is $10,000 to 31,000 to the general fund and $4,000 to $13,000 in other funds for FY20.  The COLA has an estimated financial impact for the City Attorney and the Municipal Court Judges of $7,000 to $20,000 to the general fund in FY20.

A one-time addition of $312.06 per pay period to base pay will occur effective July 10, 2017 after the COLA is applied.  For Department Heads, the fiscal impact of this is an estimated $11,300 per fiscal year to the general fund and $5,400 per fiscal year to other funds in FY18, FY19 and FY20.  For the City Attorney and Municipal Court Judges, the fiscal impact is an estimated $7,000 per fiscal year in FY18, FY19 and FY20.

A new Appendix A will be issued each year after the CPI has been calculated.

Section 2: Pay, Article F: Auto Allowance.  This article is removed from the Resolution.

Section 2: Pay, Article G: Cellular Phone Reimbursement.  This article is removed from the Resolution.

Section 3: Benefits, Article A: Group Health, Life and Long-Term Disability Insurance.  In the prior Resolution, the employees hired after July 1, 2010 who enrolled qualifying dependents were responsible for payment of 50% of dependent health and life insurance premiums.  In the new resolution, this language is removed.  Therefore, employees hired after June 1, 2010 now fall under provisions for employees hired after July 1, 2006.  These employees pay 25% of dependent life and health insurance premiums.  Currently, there are no employees affected. Therefore, there is no fiscal impact for the next three fiscal years. 

Section 3: Benefits, Article B: Group Health Insurance Upon Retirement. There are three resolution changes in this Article.   First, the schedule for sick leave conversion and sick leave cash out changed, allowing employees to become eligible for higher percentages of their sick leave earlier in their tenure with the City of Sparks.  The estimated financial impact of the sick leave cash-out changes is estimated at up to $4,000 in total to other funds over the three fiscal years FY18, FY19 and FY20.   The impact for sick leave conversion is a potential liability increase of up to $13,000 in total to the general fund over the three fiscal years.

Second, upon nonservice related death of an employee, a section was added that allows the employee’s estate to receive a one-time payment of the employee’s sick leave balance subject to the cash-out schedule.  There is no estimated fiscal impact of this change due to the number of employees in the resolution and a low citywide occurrence rate.

Finally, language was added in the cash-out section that allows the Financial Services Director the discretion to pay the remaining balance if it is nominally over the $15,000 or $25,000 cap.  This has no fiscal impact because this does not increase the cash value already owed to the employee.

1. The Council may choose to approve the proposed Resolution.
2. The Council may choose not to approve the proposed Resolution.
3. The Council may choose not to approve the proposed Resolution and direct the City Manager toward another alternative.

I move to approve Resolution No. 3328 for Executive Employees for the period of July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2020.