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Regular City Council Meeting <br />January 12,2004 <br />Page 22 <br /> <br />looked back over the past five years at the sell back, which also includes some <br />vacation days. He stated last year's figure was $98,725.00 and the year before <br />was $113,000.00. This year's figure was $188,000.00, Mr. Anderson said, <br />which he felt like was because of all the talk of cutting employee benefits. He <br />predicted next year's figure wouldn't be near that much. On a question from <br />Councilman Plata about abuse of sick leave, Mr. Anderson said there was <br />probably some abuse, but he felt the employees generally did not abuse it. He <br />felt like one of the deterrents to abuse was the policy of requiring a doctor's <br />excuse if an employee was off three days or one day, if abuse is expected. <br />Councilman Guest said he felt like 135 days was too much, although there was <br />no recommendation, as the budget had already been set. Councilwoman <br />Neeley suggested that the committee get information from other public entities, <br />such as the schools, on the cap for sick leave accumulation. <br /> <br />Mr. Anderson said that some industries don't have sick leave because it wasn't <br />negotiated under their contract and others buy risk insurance that bears the cost <br />of sick leave. <br /> <br />Councilman Bell said he thought that cutting that number would just be a one <br />time deal and wouldn't amount to much, but that he felt like, when the <br />employees sell the sick leave and vacation leave back, it should be counted as <br />an increase in pay and should be considered in the salary surveys. He did <br />mention in their comparisons, they found that city employees were paid much <br />less than industry employees, but he felt like these kind of perks made them <br />have good jobs. <br /> <br />Councilman Guest said he felt like the 2001 Wage Survey should be updated <br />taking these kinds of things into consideration, but felt like the employees <br />should be given a wage they could live on. Councilman Plata said there were <br />a lot of tax paying citizens that do not make what the city employees make. He <br />said some people don't realize how much city employees make and felt they <br />would be surprised. He felt like they would be mad about all the benefits the <br />employees get. <br /> <br /> <br />