City Council Gives Final Approval for Infrastructure Premium Pay for Engineering Services!
MEA is pleased to announce that the City Council voted unanimously this morning to approve the tentative agreement between the City and MEA to provide new “Infrastructure Premium Pay for Engineering Services.” With today’s vote, the terms of this tentative agreement are now final and have the necessary legislative approval for implementation.
As we had previously announced in June when the tentative agreement was negotiated, this deal will add 16% “Infrastructure Premium Pay” to the existing 15% registration pay (for a total of 31%) currently available to Senior, Associate, Assistant and Junior level engineers who procure their license from the State Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists or, where applicable, the National Association of Corrosion Engineers, in the disciplines of Civil, Corrosion, Electrical, Land Survey, Fire Protection, Mechanical, Structural and Traffic Engineering. The agreement also addresses pay for those licensed in Geotechnical Engineering and in Geology.
In addition, the agreement adds a new opportunity for those who are not yet registered to qualify for 8% EIT/LSIT/GIT “in-training” certification pay when the employee completes the requirements for these certifications established by the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists or qualifies for a waiver based on the education and experience equivalency as determined under Board rules.
Eligible employees will receive these pay increases in two steps, the first in January 2019 and the second in January 2020. The pay increases will be pensionable, meaning they count toward increasing the future pension allowance of employees in the SDCERS defined benefit pension plan, and they count toward increasing the City’s contribution to the 401(k)-style benefit for those employees hired after July 19, 2012.
The tentative agreement is attached. We encourage employees to read the agreement itself to fully understand the details of these new pay increases – and who is eligible to receive them — because the actual terms of the agreement will control not this summary.
If you have any questions or need more information, please don’t hesitate to call your MEA representative at 619-264-6632.