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Eagle Pass council approves several employee benefit changes, asks staff to design performance-based pay plan
Summary
City staff presented a set of ordinances to change pay and benefits, and the council approved the package while asking staff to return with a performance-based compensation plan.
City staff presented and council approved a package of employee benefit and pay-related ordinances and asked the city manager to return with a performance-based compensation plan.
A staff presenter summarized a set of proposed ordinance amendments covering payment in lieu of accrued vacation or sick leave, longevity pay, sick leave payout, a new bereavement leave, and civil service classifications within police and fire. On the payment-in-lieu measure (item 6), staff said the city generally “will not authorize request for pay in lieu of vacation or sick leave unless it is paid in connection with an employee's termination pay or in cases of financial hardship” and that the ordinance language would be broadened to determine hardship “on a case by case basis.”
On longevity pay (item 7) staff explained the change would increase the monthly longevity payment from the current statutory rate to $6 per month and remove the 25-year cap. Staff presented an estimated cost increase for that change of about $94,001.56.
On sick leave (item 8) staff proposed changing the payout of reserved sick leave hours from a half-rate to a full-rate and extending eligibility to civil-service police and fire employees. Staff estimated the proposed full-rate payout and inclusion of civil-service employees would increase the cost by about $159,968.
On bereavement leave (item 9) staff proposed adding up to three consecutive days of paid leave per occurrence for specified immediate family members; department approval and use of other leave to supplement bereavement time were included in the draft language.
Item 10 aligns civil-service classifications and authorized headcount in the police and fire departments with the budget. Staff noted requests to add one police captain, increase the number of police sergeants, and add one fire captain; several corporal positions were proposed for upgrade to sergeant classifications.
Council action and direction: Each ordinance was moved and seconded and passed unanimously in open session. Earlier in the meeting, as part of the budget approval, Councilwoman Ramon moved to change the proposed pay-scale from a time-of-service model to a performance-based model tied to employee evaluations; that motion — moved by Ramon and seconded by Councilman Diaz — passed with 3 yes and 1 abstention. Staff said they will draft a performance-based evaluation and compensation plan and present it to council for consideration prior to final budget adoption.
Ending: The council approved the benefit ordinance changes as introduced and directed staff to produce a performance-based compensation proposal for later council review. Several items include estimated fiscal impacts that staff said will be incorporated into the final budget adopted in September.
