Why Shasta County workers are so mad about that fee

Feb. 03--At the center of a Shasta County employee strike is an administration fee paid by the rank and file of the county's workforce that has left them fuming about how they're being charged.

Workers are further offended that the fee, which helps cover health care administration costs for others who've already retired, is not paid by managers and department heads.

It is charged to all 927 members of UPEC's general unit, regardless of how much or how little they make.

As the strike stretched into its fourth day Thursday, members of the United Public Employees, Local 792's general unit referred to the admin fee as a holdover from a different era.

Veterans Service Representative Devin Freeman says the fee is illogical, especially for employees who make so little.

"Or like when employees qualify for WIC, CalFresh, or other public assistance programs, you know that $53 a month would help them," Freeman said.

"That money means a lot for so many," Freeman said.

About 1,000 UPEC members pay the $26.40 fee per paycheck. UPEC reps say the fee provides about $624,000 annually to the county.

Account Clerk Mary Bennecke says her paycheck helps offset the county's obligation -- she feels like she is paying their bills for them.

"I think that fee will go away," Bennecke said. "I think it can eventually go away."

Beginning in 1987, county management asked employees to start shouldering health care costs. The county planned to have a self-insurance program for its employees, but found it was not feasible to continue, according to an October 1987 Record Searchlight article.

The county paid 100 percent of health care premiums for each employee at the time, but by the early 1990s the county and its employees voted to abandon the program and go into the CalPERS Health Plan, according to UPEC Business Manager Chris Darker.

At the time the Shasta County Employees Association, who would later become UPEC, agreed to cover the retiree costs through an administration fee. Over time the fee increased and it was only in the past 10 years that it was capped at $26.40, according to Darker.

On Tuesday at a Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting, County Executive Officer Larry Lees said the fee pays for retiree health care costs. The fee offsets the county's costs for other expenses in the general fund, including public safety.

Senior Public Health Assistant Maureen Robison felt Lees tried to present the situation as UPEC employees asking the county for money from public safety.

"But that's not how we understand that administration fee is distributed, at least that's how it was presented to us," Robison said.

Union members took this to mean that they were asking for money that would impact public safety, according to UPEC's lead negotiator Steve Allen.

"In my opinion, (Larry Lees) said it so quickly that it sounded like it would pay for public safety. But it offsets the payment to the general fund, which could go to public safety," Allen said.

Shasta County management was unavailable for comment on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Bennecke remembers when the county asked employees to start contributing to their retirement in 2010. That 7 percent deduction from employee's paychecks from several years ago is slowly returning back with recent contract negotiations.

Tina Martinez with Child Services says she is just now seeing her paycheck reach back to where it was five years ago.

"It dropped my paycheck about $6,000 or $7,000 net," Martinez said. "My income went way down, but they said there were these increments to be raised. We're almost there after five years."

Martinez and Bennecke said they would not have applied with Shasta County if they knew all the trouble they would encounter after several years of reductions, fees and stalled contract negotiations with the county.

Bennecke is hopeful the administration fee will go away.

"I don't know what (we could do.) Besides updating my resume, I don't know. I guess we'll cross that bridge," Bennecke said.

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