NEWBURYPORT — Some of the transportation perks enjoyed by city employees involving take-home vehicles and car allowances may be coming to an end next fiscal year.
City councilors questioned the cost of mileage pay, gas credits and flat allowances being provided to city staffers at last night's first at-large budget committee hearing on Mayor Donna Holaday's proposed budget for fiscal 2012.
In a budget season marked by continued shortfalls in state aid, councilors indicated their desire to eliminate some of the perks.
"I'm shocked by this," Councilor Allison Heartquist said as she looked over the figures provided by Andrew Flanagan, director of policy and programming. "This is insane. This does not happen in most towns."
Under their personnel agreements, 12 city employees are provided with vehicles to use to and from work. The vehicles range from a 2011 Ford F150 for the water distribution manager to a 1999 Dodge Durango for the sewer collections manager. Top police and fire officials as well as members of the Department of Public Services also receive vehicles.
While councilors questioned the need for take-home vehicles for some of the positions, they were more concerned with lucrative benefits offered to employees who aren't on-call for the city 24 hours a day.
"It's a real deal for them," Councilor Ed Cameron said.
Department leaders like building Inspector Gary Calderwood, health director Bob Bracey and Council on Aging director Roseann Robillard who use their vehicles daily each receive $275 a month as an overall base fuel allowance, along with the opportunity to choose one of the two: a credit for mileage equal to 75 percent of the IRS-allowed amount or free gas at the city's DPS fuel pump, amounting to one gallon for every 15 miles recorded.
According to Flanagan's figures, employees who use their vehicles on average twice a week or seasonally receive $150 base compensation per month in a flat allowance, and are entitled to choose the same free gas option from the city or collect the same IRS credit for mileage. They include the city assessor, information technology director, water superintendent, sewer chief operator, veterans director and harbormaster.
It's a benefit Councilor Tom Jones found hard to fathom.
"I'm required to drive to Hartford, Conn., for a job meeting every two weeks," Jones said. "I get nothing. I get a job I'm supposed to be happy to have. That's real. In the construction industry, nobody gets IRS anything. Nobody gets $150 a month."
While most residents are increasingly being pinched at the pump, fuel and car allowances for department heads range from $1,800 to $3,300, with the ability to fill up at the city tanks for gas used in association with their duties, or the ability to claim a generous credit for that mileage.
Jones likened the policy to one workers would never see duplicated in the private sector.
"There's a fundamental difference between what happens in this building and what happens in the rest of the world," he said.
"I'm with you," agreed Cameron.
Other topics discussed last night included annual compensation offered to city employees through a once-popular longevity program aimed at ensuring employees stay with the city long term. While the city has joined other municipalities in eliminating the practice of boosting pay based on the number of years on the job with all new hires, Flanagan said there are still employees who will continue to earn longevity until they step down from their posts.
"There's nothing we can do because these things were bargained years ago," Jones said. "The fact that we're not paying longevity going forward is a huge step, but we can't afford the luxury of all this at the end of the day."
Jones recalled a time when working in the public sector meant being paid considerably less than privately employed colleagues. That's not the case today, he said.
"Hello, talk to the 25 retailers along State Street and you'll find out that the average wage is $15 an hour with no benefits," he said. "Hold that up against a base salary (for public jobs) of $60,000. And it's the retailer that has to pay for that salary."
The second budget hearing will be held tonight starting at 6:30 in Council Chambers in City Hall. Budgets for the public library, Council on Aging, veterans department and youth services are among those scheduled to be discussed.
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