About 270 employees are expected to take the deal.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Some 270 Onondaga County employees — about one out of every 15 — are expected to retire this year if the county Legislature agrees to offer state-approved early retirement incentives, County Executive Joanie Mahoney said.
The Legislature is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to offer the incentives, which will cost the county an estimated $10 million to $13 million, which the county would have to pay the state in December 2011, Mahoney said.
In return, the county is expected to save $8 million to $10 million per year in salaries and benefits, Mahoney said.
Although some government boards have shied away from offering the incentives because of the upfront cost, Onondaga County is able to pay the cost out of its fund balance, Mahoney said. “We absolutely have to reduce our head count,” Mahoney said. “We think this is a much better way to reduce the size of the work force than to simply rely on layoffs.”
Members of Mahoney’s administration are briefing the Legislature’s Ways and Means Committee this morning on the proposal. The full Legislature is expected to vote on it Tuesday.
Roughly 1,400 of the county’s 4,060 workers would be eligible for the incentives, Mahoney said. Of those, about 270 are expected to take the offer, she said.
The early retirement offer may not eliminate the need for layoffs next year, but it would vastly reduce the likelihood, Mahoney said. "My guess is that the Legislature will be relieved to know that it’s possible to reduce the head count through early retirements rather than to have to seek layoffs as we did last year,” Mahoney said.