Nassau OKs $100M in retroactive, longevity pay for 5 unions
Nassau legislators at their Monday meeting where they unanimously approved more than $100 million in retroactive and future longevity pay for about 8,000 county public employees. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp
The Nassau County Legislature on Monday unanimously approved more than $100 million in retroactive and future longevity pay for about 8,000 county public employees.
Eighteen of the county's 19 legislators agreed to settle a yearslong legal dispute with its five major unions: Police Benevolent Association, Superior Officers Association, Detectives' Association Inc., Corrections Officers Benevolent Association and the Civil Service Employees Association.
The settlement agreement still needs the approval of the county's financial oversight board, NIFA.
Superior Officers Association president Rick Frassetti said he was "very happy after eleven years to finally be moving forward on this longevity issue" on behalf of his union members.
"We believe our mediated deal with the county to be a fair one for both our members as well as the residents of Nassau County," Frassetti said.
The deal was the result of several meetings earlier this year between attorneys for the administration of County Executive Bruce Blakeman and the unions. Funding for the $100 million agreement would come from the 2021 year-end surplus.
Administration officials have said that without the settlement, the county could lose $80 million more in arbitration with the five unions.
The administration said it plans to take $50 million from a special revenue fund Republicans pushed through during the administration of former County Executive Laura Curran. The fund includes excess revenue from better-than-estimated sales tax receipts during the pandemic.
The other $50 million will come from other 2021 county reserves, according to a new report by the independent Office of Legislative Budget Review.
The budget review found that the Blakeman administration underestimated the actual cost of the settlement by $3 million. The administration estimated the deal would cost $103.3 million; The independent review estimated an actual cost of $106.7 million.
It immediately would cost about $43.8 million in retroactive payments and about $15 million annually in years 2022 to 2025.
Longevity pay awards county employees annually for their length of service and varies based on the number of years, and also the union of which the employee is a member. The extra pay, which could be thousands of dollars for an individual county employee, had not increased since the county imposed a wage freeze in 2011.
Current and former county employees eligible for longevity payments between January 2018 and December 2021 would receive 50% of the difference between the full value of their longevity payment, as if it had never been frozen, and the 2011 value. Employees eligible as of this past Jan. 1 would get 72% of the full value and, starting January 2023, the longevity schedule will be capped at 32 years.
Police union members for example, would get an extra $1,950 for 6 years of service on top of their base pay. That payment would rise to $10,400 for 32 years of employment with the county.
Also Monday, the Blakeman administration pulled from consideration a settlement with food service company Dover Gourmet.
Blakeman said he would put out a new request for proposals to solicit bids for new vendors to run concessions at county parks.
The settlement cleared two legislative committees April 11 and was on the agenda for a full legislature vote Monday.
The Blakeman administration had previously agreed to a legal settlement that would provide Dover, run by president Butch Yamali, concessions at county parks and beaches for the next 5 years. Dover would invest $200,000 worth of capital improvements to various county properties.
In a statement, Blakeman said: "At my direction, I have asked the County Attorney to request the settlement with Dover be tabled pending a new RFP for concession service to our County parks and recreation facilities. Past administrations lack of accurate record keeping and conflicting documents have made it necessary to start the process over on an expedited basis to ensure transparency and accountability without interruption in the start of the summer season."
Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.
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