The Million Dollar Give-a-Way

We all heard about the 44 employees who lost their positions last year. Seventeen choose forced retirement and twenty-seven were terminated. I filed a public records request last month and have been going through the information received. The first information I would like to share concerns the total amount of money the City Manager paid to employees over and above the amount required by law or City policy. Yes, the Manager; not the Mayor and Council. Our elected office holders did not establish the termination amounts or formula.

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The totals listed do not include the payments to the pension plan because the information I received combined the severance pay with the payoff of vacation leave. Please remember the staff was very temporarily reduced by 44 positions as a cost savings measure. The following dollars are gifts from the City Manager during a time of "down sizing".

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For those terminated: $358,629 Forced retirements: $740,360 Total: $1,098,989

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Who left the City and how they were treated on an individual basis will be another posting.