In an open letter sent to the County Council last week, Mayor Bryan Baptiste said a raise for unionized county employees would cost taxpayers nearly $1 million for next year, and possibly $13 million over three years, if it is
In an open letter sent to the County Council last week, Mayor Bryan Baptiste said a raise for unionized county employees would cost taxpayers nearly $1 million for next year, and possibly $13 million over three years, if it is passed by the council members.
The raise, which would affect approximately 427 Hawaii Government Employees Association members in the county’s employ, was decided by a state-wide arbitration panel March 29, and it would go into effect in fiscal year 2005.
Baptiste did not make an outright request for the council to reject the arbitrator’s decision; instead, he chose not to endorse it.
“I cannot endorse an award derived through a process which clearly removes decision making and fiscal management control from the hands of those the electorate entrusted with those powers,” wrote Baptiste.
“The current process places the control over employee compensation and benefits in the hands of forces outside the County,” he continued.
Baptiste added that while he continues to “strongly support and appreciate the good work that our County employees” do, the decision erroneously focused comparing raises for firefighters and police officers, rather than comparing pay for comparable work in Hawai‘i.
His other concern was the arbitration panel’s lack of consideration on the impact to the general public.
“It is unfair to believe that we can continue to burden our citizens with ever increasing tax bills while not accommodating necessary infrastructure improvement,” Baptiste said.
Four union bargaining units are affected by the arbitration panel, which was composed of three people — one chosen by the state, one by the union, and a neutral third party.
The county recommended against a pay raise. HGEA asked for an across-the-board wage increase of 8% over two years, while the arbitrators decided on a 5% increase.
According to the mayor, citing figures from the state Office of Collective Bargaining, the raise, along with longevity bonuses and fringe benefits, would cost the county $990,202. He also said that it could cost the county, when bargaining with the other three unions, $13.7 million over the next three fiscal years in payroll expenses.
The mayor noted that those figures do not include losing productivity for double the amount of days each year. The arbitrator recommended members receive 12 more sick days to 24 per year, and 12 more vacation days to 24 per year.
The increases also widen the gap between the highest paid county employees (Public Works engineers), who will be paid $93,378 with the increase, and the heads of county departments, whose pay is fixed by ordinance in a range from $55,000 to $69,371, he said.
“Our public demands greater fiscal responsibility and it is our intent to answer that call. I do not believe that the process that produced this decision and award support our efforts,” Baptiste said in the letter.
Staff writer Tom Finnegan can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 226)
