Nearly 100 employees of Salt Lake County take enticements to retire

SALT LAKE CITY — Nearly 100 of Salt Lake County's almost 4,000 employees snapped up the latest enticement to early retirement, and those who did will launch their golden years with a few extra dollars in the bank.

The county will net more than $4 million in ongoing budget savings after paying out about $4.5 million for the plan. Eligible workers were offered a 75 percent payout on accumulated sick leave and a bonus of $5,000 per year for those with more than 30 years with the county.

Salt Lake County Chief Financial Officer Darrin Casper said the offer, which expired in March, garnered savings that will help fill a $6.7 million gap looming on the horizon next year from the use of one-time funds in the 2010 budget.

"We're getting things to a point of being very manageable," Casper said. "When we put this plan together, we knew we were going to get savings, but this has performed much better than expected."

A similar early retirement plan was offered during several months in late 2008 and early 2009, but this year's iteration upped the ante by including the $5,000 per year bonus for employees of more than 30 years, in addition to the sick leave payout. Under the regular retirement plan, outgoing employees receive 25 percent of that unused leave in cash.

While about three dozen of the positions vacated by early retirees were critical positions that required refilling, about 35-40 of the open jobs will be permanently eliminated from the books.

Some county agencies found savings in position swap-outs — replacing higher-paid management positions with service jobs. Council Chairman Joe Hatch lauded the move and offered another bit of good news on the financial front for the state's most populous county.

"The restructuring and elimination of a lot of positions is extremely impressive," Hatch said. "And … the general fund balance is $3 million ahead of where we thought it would be."

Salt Lake County has cut about 350 positions since 2008.

e-mail: araymond@desnews.com