BROCTON - Following an August agreement between the Town of Portland and CSEA, Portland Town Supervisor Dan Schrantz was authorized by the town council to put his official signature on a two-year contract for 2013/2014.
The contract, to begin Jan. 1, will cover six full-time employees of the highway and town court departments. The original contract was negotiated for seven full-time employees. However, Water Department Super-visor Drew Smith was promoted from a water maintenance worker in April, exempting him from the contract.
The employees' contract calls for a 2 percent wage increase in both 2013 and 2014, with the contribution of 6 percent of health insurance costs coming from the employees.
The town was able to realize a cost savings by switching health insurance providers in the last tentative agreement, despite the employee contribution going up 2 percent.
One change in this union agreement will be the percentage amount to be reimbursed to an employee who is able to "buy out" the health insurance coverage offered by the town. Any employee covered under this contract who provides proof of other insurance stands to be reimbursed 24 percent of the benefit cost, rather than the 30 percent that the previous contract stipulated.
With very few items to negotiate, both sides were able to come to an early agreement in August.
The town supervisor has signed the contract. It will now be signed by town representatives Tim Munson and Kathy Cave, and sent on to CSEA for its seal of approval, before final copies are distributed to town employees.
