The Harford County Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday night on a bill authorizing the one-time spending of up to $6,750,000 in FY2015 to pay for a Retirement Incentive Program to encourage eligible county employees to retire before May 1, 2014.
According to the fiscal note, county employees must confirm their intention to retire by February 13, 2015. Incentives will include a one-time $5,000 payment, additional sick leave payments, health insurance subsidies and a County-paid life insurance policy.
The bill also requires the County Executive to submit a report to the County Council by March 30, 2015 detailing by department the number of individuals retiring under the incentive payout, the cost per department for the payouts under the retirement incentive program and the projected savings to each department due to the retirements.
The public hearing will be held Tuesday, Jan. 6 at 7:00 PM at 212 South Bond Street, Bel Air in the Council Chambers
Bill 14-034 – Retirement Incentive FY 2015
AN ACT to make an appropriation of funds from the General Fund, the Highways Fund and the Water & Sewer Fund for the current fiscal year; to provide the necessary funding for a one-time retirement incentive for eligible County employees in FY 2015.
The full text of the bill as well as the fiscal note can be found here.
Here is the full agenda for Tuesday night’s meeting:
PUBLIC HEARING
7:00 PMa. Bill 14-034 (Retirement Incentive FY2015)
LEGISLATIVE SESSION DAY 15-001
7:30 PM
1. CALL TO ORDER
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
3. OPENING PRAYER – Council Member McMahan
4. PRESENTATION OF PROCLAMATIONS
5. CITIZEN INPUT
6. CONSIDERATION OF PETITIONS AND APPLICATIONS
7. SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
a. Office of Governmental and Community Relations Presentation
b. BGE Presentation8. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
a. LSD 14-030 (December 16, 2014)9. INTRODUCTION AND CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTIONS
11. INTRODUCTION OF BILLS
12. INTRODUCTION AND CONSIDERATION OF AMENDMENTS
13. CALL FOR FINAL READING OF BILLS
14. ENROLLMENT OF BILLS
15. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
16. NEW BUSINESS
17. BUSINESS FROM THE PRESIDENT
18. BUSINESS FROM COUNCIL MEMBERS
19. COMMENTS FROM ATTENDING CITIZENS
20. ADJOURNMENT
Great idea. The Army at APG is using a similar retirement incentive to encourage retirement, and then eliminate the resultant vacant position. Hence no layoffs, but still reducing the number of employees. It will be a very long time, if ever, that hiring at APG returns to that which occurred concurrent with the BRAC transition.
I understand how the military must reduce it’s size no longer being at war, but how does a local government wind up with too many people?
The answer is actually very simple. Every new administration brings in family ad friends (every administration does this) and they put them at times in newly created positions or hide them conveniently in different departments. The last administration was the worst in doing this. Then, a new administration comes in and wants to bring their own preferred people in – so new positions are found for the already existing friends and family that was brought in and that is how the employee pool gets inflated over and over. The sad thing in this is that the regular employees, people that have worked hard and been in service for many years and have gotten their positions through hard work and knowledge etc are being shafted and overlooked for jobs and promotions. This has gone totally out of control under the last administration on top of what other administrations have done. And again it is starting and the loyal and long term employees are being treated wrongly again. This is what you call politics.
Actually it encourages the highly compensated, because of longevity, to get out and to bring in younger staff, reducing payroll. It also tends to eliminate dead wood, but we know there’s none of that in Harford County.
Money from the highways fund, the water and sewer fund? I assume these are budgeted amounts with what somebody on the council sees as excess? Does any portion of those funds come through state or federal matches or set asides and if so, it’s yet another example of the misuse of funds intended/collected for purposes other than that it’s original intent. No beef with offering people packages to retire but unless that money originates in Harford County that’s another example of throwing other people’s money around and in case it might be suggested as a result of mismanagement to begin with.
Those funds would come from the departments which are having the early retirees. All salaries and wages are designated within the various departments so if a water plant employee accepts, the incentive would come from that pot of money.
That doesn’t really get to the heart of the question. I know it’s money budgeted for a certain department but because the state provides funding for transportation projects through Fed Transportation dollars I wonder about the flow through of funds. If we suddenly have well over 6 million bucks available like loose change that came from somewhere – from taxpayers – from local, state or federal tax collectors who actually is paying for this? If we have the extra money why is it budgeted in the first place, collected by a department and held if it’s not needed or are we just creating slush funds by siphoning money intended for other purposes. If that’s the case then you can’t exactly call this local government conservative – that’s sort of misrepresentation is expected in New York, but Harford County? Perhaps it is more complicated and I don’t mean to oversimplify, and really don’t think early out incentives are always a bad thing but the ease at which we suddenly have an extra 6 million bucks I’m sure irks the teachers to no end.
Arturo,
Money comes from the fund balance that hasn’t been spent. It is money already there for salaries and positions that are vacant and haven’t been filled and will now not be filled. The money can’t be state or federal match funds as those are dedicated for specific use such as road maintenance, repairs or specific grants. My question is for all the money that’s being spent, what is the net benefit for the county and the taxpayers? I think its a payoff for people that would be retiring now or in the near future. Waste of money! Fire the those at the top of the food chain as they cost us taxpayers more than the new hires.
I agree with mostly bull — need to clean house like other organizations do when they are looking to downsize their budget. I don’t know why some of you folks feel that these folks are entitled. We have a monstrous state budget deficit. There will be many painful funding cuts, many that may be felt in our county. Why, then, would we ever consider incentives for retirees? In the current fiscal climate, such a move communicates poor judgment and if I were the state, I wouldn’t give the county another dime.
Apparently the government can hire anyone and everyone but can’t fire them.
It’s complicated.
And the money designated to the various agencies comes from the pockets of taxpayers. Wish I could get a golden parachute…ok, maybe a bronze one.
Since Craig is going to be appointed Secretary of Planning under Hogan, all of his friends and family hires will be receiving their buyout and heading to Crownsville. We don’t need Craig involved in anything else. Whats wrong with Hogan? There was a reason people voted against Craig.
Department of Planning is in Baltimore.
A golden parachute for the Craig family who never left the ground.
Didn’t the previous CE propose this and the previous Council Prez now Director of Admin shoot it down? And now they propose it to the council as if it’s some BIG IDEA. Who are these clowns? I can’t even keep up.