CC 10-25-23 Written CommunicationsCC 10-25-2023
Item No. 1
Conference with
Labor Negotiators
Written Communications
From:Rhoda Fry
To:City Council; City Clerk
Subject:Comments Agenda Item 1 Labor October 25
Date:Wednesday, October 25, 2023 3:21:10 PM
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Comments Agenda Item 1 Labor October 25
Dear City Council,
Short Message – Please pay great wages and make Cupertino less top-heavy
It is important that we pay competitive wages to our City of Cupertino labor force. We don’t
want the good folks to leave. You know the 80-20 rule – 20 percent of the people do 80
percent of the work!
So we need to keep the folks who are doing great work here in Cupertino. By paying the good
folks appropriately, means that we won’t have to pay as many people to get the work done.
I have had the pleasure of working with staff members in a number of departments and have
been very impressed by their knowledge, responsibility, and dedication to customer
satisfaction.
That said, our budgeted employment costs are out of control, see the table below comparing
FY 2019 (pre-covid) and 2023 (current). Cupertino population is shrinking but our budgeted
employment headcount, compensation, and benefits cost is way to high, especially considering
the City’s financial situation. I have also included contract services because those could be
considered external labor (we need to reduce that too). My ask is that Council take a hard look
at all of the jobs in our City and determine the appropriate wages/benefits.
Furthermore, consider reducing headcount among the more highly-paid positions as it appears
that City-employment is overly top-heavy when comparing increase in headcount (11%) vs
increase in wages (30%).
2019 2023 % Increase
Contract Services $21.6M $24.8 15%
Employee
Compensation
$19M $24.7M 30%
Employee Benefits $8M $11M 38%
Employee Headcount 203 225 11%
Community
Development
28 37 30%
Administration and
Administrative
Services
30 42 42%
Sources:
https://cupertino.opengov.com/transparency#/33189/accountType=fteCount&embed=n&break
down=28459e6a-563e-4695-97d4-
8a0d97d881e1¤tYearAmount=cumulative¤tYearPeriod=years&graph=bar&lege
ndSort=desc&proration=true&saved_view=103397&selection=3B47265EDAEBBD4AA92D
700FE18A69B7&projections=null&projectionType=null&highlighting=null&highlightingVar
iance=null&year=2023&selectedDataSetIndex=null&fiscal_start=earliest&fiscal_end=latest
https://cupertino.opengov.com/transparency#/28184/accountType=expenses&embed=n&brea
kdown=types¤tYearAmount=cumulative¤tYearPeriod=years&graph=pie&legen
dSort=desc&proration=true&saved_view=83836&selection=9C2A43FB322CD4C8B0EBF19
802609C1F&projections=null&projectionType=null&highlighting=null&highlightingVarianc
e=null&year=2024&selectedDataSetIndex=null&fiscal_start=2016&fiscal_end=latest
Sincerely,
Rhoda Fry