Home > News Lynn to pay out $2.87M in longevity pay for 2013-14 Originally Published on Wednesday, June 19, 2013 By Thor Jourgensen / The Daily Item

LYNN The citys $266.4 million spending plan for 2013-14 includes salary bonuses for senior city workers that, in some municipal departments, have nearly doubled over the past 10 years.

City Council members voted 7-3 to approve the budget Tuesday after councilors William Trahant Jr., Darren Cyr and Peter Capano unsuccessfully pleaded with colleagues to delay the vote a week and ask Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy to boost Public Works spending.

The trio said DPWs 49-employee workforce needs to be expanded to handle snow plowing, tree stump removal and other work. Ward 4 Councilor Richard Colucci voted present on the budget and said he was attempting to reach out to Kennedy when the vote was taken.

Longevity pay is a $2.87 million expense in the city budget divided among the various city offices, with amounts paid to employees tied to the number of years they have worked for the city. Municipal unions negotiate longevity with most contracts providing a bonus equivalent to 3 percent of a workers salary after five years on the job and escalating to a 5 percent bonus after 10 years.

Its all collectively bargained its contractual, said City Council President and mayoral candidate Timothy Phelan.

The Lynn Teachers Union contract provides school employees with 30 years or more of city service with a 17 percent longevity pay boost. Other contracts set 20 years as a longevity threshold with employees receiving at least 12 percent longevity when they hit that seniority mark.

Sixteen police officers hired in 1993 hit the 20-year mark this year, and Police Chief Kevin Coppinger said another 21 hired in 1995 during an era when former President Clinton made community police spending a priority, are approaching 20 years.

A glance at city budgets dating back to 2004 shows Police Department longevity costs jumped from $710,000 in 2004 to $1.47 million spent this year. Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy budgeted $1.38 million for police longevity for the spending year that starts July 1.

Coppinger said retirements, including the gradual exodus of 25 officers hired in 1985, will reduce longevity costs.

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Lynn to pay out $2.87M in longevity pay for 2013-14