New Yorba Linda Water District contract for employee salaries is unusual in two respects

A newly adopted contract outlining employment terms at the Yorba Linda Water District is unusual for a public agency in two respects – it sets salary increases for a five-year period and structures a mixture of lump sum payments with base salary hikes through June 2023.

The district services some 25,000 water connections in Yorba Linda and parts of Placentia, Brea and Anaheim, including the East Placentia, Country Club and Fairlynn county islands, and provides sewer service in most of the areas.

The district's Employees Association bargaining unit has 52 members, while unrepresented employees, formerly known as professional, confidential and management employees, total 27, with six considered management. General Manager Marc Marcantonio has a separate contract.

Bargaining on the new contract, which the district calls a “memorandum of understanding,” took seven months. Unrepresented employees do not bargain on salaries and benefits but are usually granted the same terms as the bargaining unit.

Generally, local city and school district employees work under a one- or three-year contract, with possible wage reopeners each year on a three-year pact. The water district employees have been given 3 percent increases for the current year and each of the next four years.

Each year's increases are structured to include a combination of a base salary increase and lump sum payment, with the latter ameliorating the compounding effect on the base salaries.

For example, this year's base pay increase is 1 percent with a 2 percent lump sum to be paid in November. Next year's increase is 2 percent base pay and 1 percent lump sum. The future increases will follow the same alternating pattern through the end of June 2023.

One interesting upgrade is that education reimbursement is now allowed for graduate work, in addition to the undergraduate level, with prorated repayment if the employee leaves prior to three years. Also, employees receive up to a 2 percent match for deferred compensation.

This year's pay range for first-year bargaining unit members is $34,091 to $78,146, based on classification, advancing to $43,659 and $100,048 at 11 years on the job. At contract's end, first-year range will be $36,192 to $82,909, advancing to $46,322 and $106,184 at 11 years.

This year's range for first-year unrepresented employees is $55,557 to $179,234, based on classification, advancing to $71,136 and $229,445 at 11 years on the job. At contract's end, first-year range will be $58,947 to $188,344, advancing to $75,483 and $241,072 at 11 years.

In a water-related note, addition of a monthly 95-cent tax on drinking water was dropped from the state budget in June. The tax sought to raise $110 million to clean up contaminated water.

The tax was dropped three days after the June 5 primary, which saw state Sen. Josh Newman recalled, based largely on his support for a 12-cent per gallon state tax hike.