Village, CSEA Agree to New Six-Year Deal

After working for two years without a new contract, the CSEA and village have agreed to a new six-year deal that gives CSEA employees two percent salary increases in four of the six years of the agreement.

According to village comptroller Mike Schussheim, the contract is retroactive to June 1, 2010, and freezes salaries for the first two years of the deal. Two percent wage increases in three of the four years are implemented in December rather than in June, Schussheim said, which helps the village save money. He explained that since the wage increases occur halfway through the fiscal year, the cash cost to the village is only one percent for the fiscal year.

In addition, CSEA members hired after June 1, 2012 will have their starting salaries reduced by five percent. A new "step" for wage increases was also created for newcomers, which Schusshem said will also help the village save money.

"We believe that the approximate savings from the Dec. 1 raises and the five percent reduction (in starting salaries) for new hires, combined will save the general fund $70,000 a year," he said.

One major hurdle settled in the new contract was the village's usage of outside contractors to haul garbage from its transfer station to OMNI's waste faclity in Babylon. The union maintained that hauling trash should be exclusive to the union. Schussheim said the village agreed to transfer no more than 240 loads a year by an outside contractor, and no more than five loads per week. 

But not everyone is happy with the new contract.

Former village trustee Dave Krasula noted that in the new contract, CSEA employees hired after 1997 pay .65 percent of their gross salary to health care costs. Those hired before 1997 do not contribute anything.

Schusshem said there are 130 CSEA employees and approximately 50 were hired before 1997. He added that the current average salary for a CSEA member including the general fund, water and electric fund is $60,000 a year. 

Krasula explained that a CSEA employee making $79,000 a year pays $500 a year for a family coverage health care plan. The health coverage for that one employee, he said, costs village taxpayers nearly $19,000. In difficult economic times, Krasula said he thought in the new contract, CSEA members should pay more into their health care. He pointed to RVC school district teachers who contribute 15 to 20 percent of their health care costs.

"The core issue here is contributing only .65 percent of their gross salary is negligible compared to the actual cost of health care premiums," he said. "The so-called savings by having the two percent delayed is really a minor amount of money."

Schussheim maintained the CSEA made concessions in other areas to help offset rising health care costs. "The increase in wages that are effective Dec. 1 and the reduction in starting salaries are a recognition of escalating costs and meant to compensate the village for those escalating costs," he said.

Trustee Ed Oppenheimer agreed that there are beneficial portions of the contract that will save the village money, but said he thought the health care contributions by CSEA members could have been more.

"In the last few years, the village has asked managers to kick in 10 percent of their coverage," he said. "The trustees who do have medical insurance, kick in about 20 percent. Somewhere in those numbers seems to be an appropriate request."