City Councilman Doug Burlison wants to cut deferred compensation "bonuses" to some city employees to help get a sales tax passed in February.

"The opinions I'm hearing are that this sales tax is not very popular," Burlison said, of a proposed 1-cent sales tax to bolster the ailing fire/police pension fund.

"In order to get people totally on board with this, we've got to do something substantial to demonstrate our fiscal responsibility."

The council will vote Monday on whether to send the sales tax proposal to voters on Feb. 3. If approved, it would generate $40 million a year for up to five years to offset the pension fund's $194 million shortfall.

Burlison wants to throttle back a deferred compensation program that former City Manager Tom Finnie began in 2002. His proposal is to cut bonus amounts in half until the pension fund is fully funded.

In October, the city paid a total of $113,147 to 30 city workers, based on their length of service with the city. The deferred compensation plan was intended to help recruit and retain city employees in jobs that typically pay less than in the private sector.

The city kicks in an amount that has to be matched by the employee. The city contributions ranged from $2,325 for managers with up to four years of service, to $6,200 for those with 20 or more years of service.

The money from both the city and the employee goes into a fund and becomes available to the worker upon retirement.

Fire Chief Barry Rowell -- who received a $6,200 match -- said he thought it was "fair" to review the benefit program in light of the pension fund's ongoing financial problems.

"I know Greg has it on the agenda to talk about in December," Rowell said, referring to City Manager Greg Burris.

City Councilwoman Mary Collette and Councilman Ralph Manley were on the council when the deferred benefit plan was passed.

Collette said she thought Burlison's proposal had merit.

"We passed that at a time when revenues were better and projections were more optimistic," Collette said. "It seem to me, in times like this today, it's not something we should proceed with. Until the police/fire pension is addressed, we should hold tight."

Manley said he wanted to talk to city employees to hear their views about reducing the deferred compensation match until the pension fund is on better financial ground.

"We don't want to lose any of our key employees," Manley said. "Before we jerk the rug out from under them, we need to talk with them and hear them out. We've got to treat our employees with fairness and dignity."

Matching funds

Springfield-Greene County Parks Director Jodie Adams said no one had talked to her about possibly reducing the city's matching payments.

"It's really up to the City Council to decide," she said.

As a veteran city employee, she received the full $6,200 match from the city.

Seven of the 30 city managers didn't seek the city's match, even though they were eligible because of their years of service.

Most didn't want to commit their own funds to get the city match.

Sheila Maerz, the city's human resources manager, said she "didn't feel comfortable taking it."

"I had to make a personal decision on that," Maerz said. "Everybody had a personal choice to make."

Assistant City Attorney Nancy Yendes --whose husband, Carl, also is an assistant city attorney -- said she wouldn't be upset if the council opted to cut the benefit for a while.

She and her husband both received a $3,875 city match in October.

Nancy Yendes said she thought the city contribution could help keep some city employees from looking elsewhere for jobs.

"If you want to retain people, it makes sense to offer it," she said.

Deputy City Manager Evelyn Honea said that was the goal when Finnie proposed the plan in 2002.

"It was a way to help recruit and retain those folks," Honea said. "Mr. Finnie compared it to a three-legged stool, in terms of retirement. A city employee would have a pension, their deferred compensation and Social Security."

Having a chance for a secure retirement encourages people to think about staying with the city instead of looking elsewhere, she said.

How much impact?

According to the 2002 ordinance, the city manager has authority over the deferred benefit program and can decide whether to budget the payments if there's enough money that year.

Maerz noted that Burlison's proposal to reduce the deferred compensation payments wouldn't have much of an impact on the pension shortfall.

Only about half of the city's matching contributions come from the general fund -- the fund that also pays into the police and fire pension.

The rest comes from revenue in other departments -- such as the airport or art museum -- because some eligible employees work in those departments, which have their own budgets and generate their own revenue.

Even if the $113,147 in matching contributions in October had been eliminated, that only would have added about $56,000 to the pension fund.

The pension fund currently is about $194 million short of what it needs to pay police and fire retirees' benefits.

Burlison, however, said reducing the "bonuses," as he called the deferred contributions, would show the city was acting in good faith in trying to solve the pension problem.