-6/29/23
Wage Increase: There will be a General Wage Increase of 2.5% for all employees on Friday June 30, 2023 and will be reflected in your July 27 paycheck. This means all salaries will increase by 2.5%. The Step increases (or TopStepPayment) will be on December 29, 2023. Starting in January 2024, A&R will begin negotiations for a 2024 GWI & Step Increase.
Retiree Healthcare Trust Fund (OPEB): Employees who began making the 3% contributions to the Retiree Healthcare Trust Fund (OPEB on your paystub) back on July 1, 2013 are reaching the end of the 10 year contribution requirement, that means that these payments will cease with this payperiod. The 3% will no longer be deducted from your paycheck, just keep in mind that the next paycheck covers the period of June 16 thru June 30 so you will still see the deduction in the July 13 paycheck. If you had any extended periods of unpaid time since July 1, 2013 then your payments may continue until you have completed the requisite number of monthly payments.
Tier IV Pension “Shared Risk”: Members in the Tier IV pension plan are facing a one-year increase to their pension contributions. This increase is set to be applied on July 1, 2023 and will be an additional 2% contribution to the pension plan. This is occurring b/c the Tier IV plan has something called “shared risk”, which means that if the pension investments fall short of the assumed return rate, then the pension members are required to help offset the shortfall by increasing contributions up to 2%. The assumed return rate is 6.9% annually and the investment return in 2022 was -10%, thus the increase in contributions was triggered. Tier IV – which was negotiated in the middle of a nearly decade-long budget crisis – has proved inadequate in recruiting and retaining employees, particularly in years of surplus and a tight labor market. Implementation of this provision only exacerbates these issues. We will continue to call on the Lamont Administration to delay the implementation of this provision during this current staffing crisis.