Benefits December 30, 2009
CO County Institutes Slimmed Down Retirement Program
December 30, 2009
(PLANSPONSOR.com) – A plan for reduced retirement benefits is expected
to save the Mesa County government in Colorado about $900,000, officials said.
Reported by Fred Schneyer
A news report on the KJCT Web site said county employees will now have a 3% required pension contribution that will be matched by the county – down from a 5% to 6% contribution requirement.
The reduced county retirement costs and reduced employee medical plan coverage will help avoid planned layoffs of 18 employees on top of the 33 already terminated job positions, the news report said.
There will also continue to be no salary increases for staff in 2010, according to budget documents posted on the county’s Web site.
“95 percent of what the county does is provide services. And 100 percent of that is people. So that makes the largest portion of our budget personnel cost. And so what this does is it’s a way of bringing down our personnel costs as our revenues are reduced. And so we’ll be able to continue providing existing service levels with lower revenues,” said Mesa County Administrator Jon Peacock, in the news account.