Agenda - Council - 05/27/1980 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The PERA Police and Fire Fund is well funded and rapidly approaching full funding. Furthermore, the taxpayers, through payment of the employers 60% of pension payments, already provide sufficient funding to amortize the deficit in that fund. Therefore, the legislature should amend the present provision on dis- bursement of tile two percent tax on auto- mobile casualty insurance to allow expen- ditures by the recipient political subdi- vision of any excess over the employer's share, of police retirement costs for any police department purpose instead of re- quiring payment to the PERA Police and Fire Fund. Where the PERA Police and Fire Fund achieves full funding, employers' and employees' contributions should be reduced by the amounts sufficient to pay normal costs on an equal share basis. Volunteer firefighters relief associations Through the some 550 municipal volunteer fire departments and more than 20 non-profit fir¢fighting corporations, hundreds of cities through- out the state provide fire protection services to their citizens in a very economical manner. Most of these departments and non-profit corporations provide their volunteer members with some type of pension as partial compensation for their com- munity service. Traditionally, the type and level of pension benefits provided as well as the adminis- tration investment of the pension fund has been handled locally in accordance with benefit limits and financial standards specified by law. Although this system has worked very well, the League proposes that there is need to provide cities more flexibility in the use of state-aid funds. Further, the legislature is urged to carefully monitor local funding since effective limits on benefits have now been removed. Formal civil service systems Constraints imposed by the police and fire civil service laws tend to hinder the effectiveness of personnel management systems and limit home rule charter options in cities with such commis- sions. Experience indicates that the present me- thods of modifying these systems have not proved workable. The League supports enactment of an optional comprehensive municipal civil service act for both home rule charter and statutory cities, other than cities of the first class, that provides for either a personnel board or an advisory and appeals com- mission. If a city already has a personnel board, this board would continue until superseded by an advisory and appeals commission, rule of the council, or terminated by majority vote of the electorate. The council would be able to exclude individuals, class position, or entire departments from the civil service classification. Adoption of the service would be by enacting ordinance, sub- ject to amendment by majority vote of the court- cil. The League recommends that the authority to grade and classify positions or keep personnel records be removed from the authority of the civil service board or commission; that appoint- ment or promotion in the classified service be by a fair, impartial process designed to test qualifi- cations and fitness for duties of a position; that dismissal or suspension be for just cause and be subject to appropriate due process considerations. Federal labor legislation In 1971, Minnesota adopted a comprehensive public employment labor relations act which covers all public employees within the state. The scope of the law is sufficiently broad to permit free and extensive participation in the collective bargaining process by both the public employee and employer, including the right to strike for certain employees. The League is opposed to fed- eral labor legislation covering state and local em- ployees on the grounds that it is unconstitutional and that it is patently unnecessary. If the United States Supreme Court determines that such legis- lation is constitutional and that Congress finds it necessary to adopt some sort of national legisla- tion in this area, we believe the best alternative would be to extend the provision' of the National Labor Relations Act to cover public employers and employees in those states that do not have existing labor legislation, allowing states the oppor- tunity to establish their own laws as the need arises. -10-