The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutRESOLUTION 1994-72Suggested by: Finance City of Kenai ~EBOLOTXON NO. 94-72 A RESOLU~.ION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENAI, AUTHORIZING AN AMENDMENT TO ITS PUBLIC EMPLOYEE'S SYSTEM PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT. ALASKA RETIR NT WHEREAS, the City of the State of Alaska, and Kenai has received an audit report from Division of Retirement and Benefits; WHEREAS, the audit report includes the following co~ent: The City of Kenai is starting to employ 'seasonal' hires in both it's Parks & Recreation and Police departments. Alaska Statute AS 39.35.680(37) defines a 'seasonal' as, "refers to an employee who is occupying a position for less than 12 months each year where it is anticipated that the same employee will return to the position when needed." WHEREAS, the audit report recommends that the City consider amending its PEltS Participation Agreement to specifically exclude seasonal employees; and WHEREAS, the City denies that it has ever employe~ a seasonal employee as defined above, but does agree that amendment of its PERS ParticipationAgreement will leave no doubt as to exclusion of certain employees who may work for the City for more than one summer. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENAI, ALASKA, that the Finance Director is authorized to amend the City's Public Employee's Retirement System ParticipationAgreement on Page 2, subparagraph 2 to exclude seasonal employees. PASSED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENAI, ALASKa, this 23rd day of November, 1994. ATTEST: JOHN J. WILLIAMS, MAYOR ~aroi L. Frea'~', CitY'cierk Approved by Finance: (11/14/94) kl CITY OF KENAI' 210 FIDALGO AVE., SUITE 200 KENAI, ALASKA ee611.?Te4 TELEPHONE e07-21~75.t5 FAX 907-283-3014 mORAm)UX TO: THROUGH: FROH: DATE: SUBJECT: Kenai City Council Kim Howard, Actinq ~ity Manager~(/~ Charles A. Brown, Finance Director November 14, 1994 Cq~ PERS Amendment Please read the attached resolution, PERS audit, and PERS Participation Agreement. They explain the situation fairly well. This issue has been addressed before. The PERS auditor has for several years suqgested that we might have seasonal employees. These would be employees who, by advance agreement, work for several consecutive years during the summer months. I have consistently informed PERS that we have no, and have never had, seasonal employees. Employees who return for a second or third summer, say in the Parks Department, are terminated, considered for re-employment, and rehired based on the relative qualifications of the applicants. No assurances are given that they may be rehired. However, it appears that the simplest and clearest way to resolve any possible dispute is to amend the PERS ParticipationAgreement to specifically exclude "seasonal- workers. Then, the City's non-existent seasonal workers clearly will not be covered under PERS. State, of AlaSka' Division ..of-Retirement: ~and. =Beneflts ~1' W CITY OF Kli~I _ Audit Control Nun~: Audit-.Report AUDIT REPORT " The auditor is responsible for providing' the divisiOn, employer's and the retirement s~stems external auditors with compliance audits of employers participating in the State of Alaska's retirement systems. The retirement systems contain almost $ 6 billion in assets, assigned to future benefits. The auditor assures that membership in the system is appropriate and reporting to the employer is accurate. As a guide to all work, the Division of Retirement and Benefits Audit position" complies with generally accepted auditing standards established by the American..' Institute of Certified Public Accountants, with government auditing standards established by the US. General Accounting Office and the State of Alaska statutes and regulations governing the retirement systems. Audits are performed at the direction of the Director of the Division of Retirement and benefits and the Commissioner of Administration. Individual members and employers can submit requests for audits of specific programs and problems. RET~MENT'~ BENEFITS. MANAGEMENT" Robert Stalnaker, Director Anselm Staack, Accounting Manager Bill Church, Retirement Supervisor' "~'" .... Katherine OouytOn,/Division Internal Auditor DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION ,. DIVISION OF RETIREMENT AND BENEFITS 'iMr. Charles Brown ./Finance Director 'City-of Kenai 210 Fidalgo Street, Suite 200 ' ' Kenai, AK. 99611-7794 Employer of the State of AlnSka Retirement Systems Public Employees' Retirement Systems (PERS) Teachers' Retirement Systems (TRS) Judicial Retirement System (JRS) Elected Public Officials Retirement System ~PORS) National Guard and Naval Militia Retirement System (NGNMRS) Supplement Benefits System (SBS) State of Alaska Social Security Administration The attached report is submitted for your review tinder the authorization./" .'~/ allocated the division by AS 39.35.070, and 02 AAC 36.8~.0. COMPLIANCE AUDIT CITY OF KENAI PUBLIC EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM October 26, 1994 Audit Control Number P-15 The audit was conducted in accordance with generally accepted governmental perfo, rmance/comphance auditing standards. Audit ' methodology are d,scussed in the rele~.~~on, scoPe and Katherine Gou~on Division Auditor AUDITORS CONCLUSIONS; oBiECTIvES, "' AND ME~oDOLoGY; REPORT ' : · EMPLOYER, RESPONSE DOCUMENT: City of Kenai.... ~ ectives · The report primarily focused on three general objectives:. 1. To review p. olicies ~d procedures used in inClUding or excluding employees m the retirement systems. 2. To identify problems in compliance with the retirement systems statutes and regulations. 3. To identify solutions for any problems. and The scope focused on procedures used in processing 'the 'records and reports submitted to .the retirement systems. The, following procedures were used to evaluate.compliance. 1. Establish!vg employees included and excluded from the submitted material. 2. Confirming eligibility of included employees. 3. Confirming ineligibility of excluded employees. 4. Confirming the accuracy of material submitted. The audit included review of the payroll and personnel process of the City of Kenai. Selected employee payroll processing, personnel files, and/or position descriptions were reviewed. Compliance with statutes, regulations and the employers contract were evaluated. of'emPloyees inclUded in',the: PERSreporting; I01;." · Total number' Types of employee's included: full'tim· and. part. time Total number of employee's excluded from the PERS reporting: 32 Types of employee's excluded from..the PEPS:temporaries, · non-permanents, and contractual hires,' .~.. Contract .c°mmenm:.,, All full-time, pan-time, and seasonal'emploYees will".. be. included' in' the PEPS. AdditionaI ContraCt amendments: None. ' AUDITORS CONCLUSION ~ ~i '~ ~ I must apologize for the delay in completing this audit, The examination.'.. consisted of a review of the City of Kenai's payroll transactions for the': ".'" ' '... month .of December 199~, through August 1994,, with additional material.. reviewed to assure reporung eligibility of part-time employees, SupP°~g.i... "...' documents were reviewed to assure wages reported were paid, and. personnel information was accurate, Oiven below are problems identified.. and solutions proposed: .... ' Problem 1: PERS Reporting Reconciled The City of Kenai's payroll transactions for the period indicated above, reconcile.d to th.e PERS turnaround reports and the monthly report of. contributlons wxh some exceptions. These were found to be mostly temporaries, and employees working insufficient hours to make them eligible for inclusion in the PER$. Wages reported were supported by"' wages paid. The City of Kenai is starting to employ 'seasonal' hires in both ir'SParkS & Recreation and Police departments. Alaska Statute AS 39.35.680(37) defines a 'seasonal' as," refers to an employee who is occupying a '.- position for less than 12 months each year where it is anticipated that the same employee will return to the position when needed." Resolution: The city needs to either include seasonal employees in the PERS or consider amending their Participation Agreement to specifically exclude seasonal employees. Should you choose to amend your Participation Agreement, I would refer you to your Retirement Representative, Ms, Anna Schubert at (907) $63-$885 for information on how to proceed. Problem 2. Senior Citizen Grant Employees The City of Kenai is utilizing s. ev. eral employees who are emploYed.. ". through Older Alaskan Comimsslon Senior Citizen, Traininli:' Grants..Th°.. assumption is this will provide temporary employment for job' tralv~g '.-. senior citizens. The city has an obligation to place all full-time and part- time employees in the PEPS. However, temporary employees are excluded. Although these employees are considered in training and :.' therefore 'temporary', there is a point where it has to be determined the. training is complete and the employee is considered to be a qualified · · employee with normal employee rights and benefits, including the PER$. Resolution: The following employees need to be reviewed to determine if their training is complete and they are working sufficient hours to be eligible for inclusion in the PER$. The Senior Citizen Grant program d°es not preclude an employees membership in a 'qualified plan' and PERS is. such a plan. Dorothy Bolstridge Doris Day Thomas English 007-20-4915 520-22-0332 199-18-5748 /' e.- ~ / CLOSING COMMENTS I want to thank you for the assistance I was given,in performing thik'audit. It Wasa pleasure having the onnormni~,, t'- '" r'r %~ ,~ aal~;~, WI[Il 011. ' , · always I aDoreCiate-th,~ _ ... . ,-~.. . ,, ,,,,,~ 7~,u uav~ raxen.to suoml~ materials to.the system m a umeiy manner. .. '. ..... Comment 1: Elected Officials A review indicated that our ' ' "' ... . . . .Y. .elected officials,are-currently compensated ..and.are e!lglb, le for participation in the PERS.. At this time .'they' either are participating m the PERS or have 'waiVers of'Pa-+~,.~---.:---. '-- -',-- ~-'- this of~ce. ~,~.a~,~pm.~oil OH I110 WlfJl Comment 2: Police & Fire Training Required syThs~e'po!ice and. fire' po.rtion of the PSRS is.a special system within a re.for employees who are on the frOn! !ines.in ~e .polic.e'.~d fire' . ~ Pr°fesSlons.. A review of your current positiOn.desCriPtions indicated that some' of ~e e.mployees enrolled in this secti°ri'of PERS maY not be eligible for inclusion m these systems. ' ' ' '~ I need updated position description for the following employees. Roy'Browning Dennis Lovett Michael Tilly 'EriC Wilcox EMT & Degree Engineer/Paramed Engineer/Paramed Paramed Walte Williamson Paramed & Degree As we discussed firefighters must be authorized and trained to act under · AS 18.70. susPense FileMaintenance ...-.Th, e.Cit~I of K~enai currently,has a suspense ifiio.balance of. only 'a "? ...~ ... ,.: :penm."es;' I.. aPPreCiate the"effor~· you have` made to keep. 'u .... "' acCOrate.~' If:You have' any'questions,,' Or require ,additional aSSis~mce my.