HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 11011988 - IO.1 TDBOARD OF SUPERVISORS I. 0• l
FROM: INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE Contra
October 24, 1988 C )sta
Sick Child Care and Dependent Child Care
SUBJECT: programs for County Employees
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECONIIWMATIONS
1 . Request the County Administrator to prepare a letter to
Congressman George Miller for the Chairman' s signature
requesting that Congressman Miller consider authoring
legislation in the 101st Congress to allow an employee who
is enrolled in a Dependent Care Assistance Program, and who
has an unused balance in his or her account at the end of
the calendar year, to withdraw that balance, subject to
paying appropriate federal taxes on such withdrawals,
including an appropriate penalty, rather than having the
balance revert to the employer.
2 . Until a change in federal law can be accomplished, request
the County Administrator and Auditor-Controller to establish
a special account into which any child care deposits which
revert to the employer can be placed with the fund to be
reserved for expenditure for child care programs upon
appropriation of the funds by the Board of Supervisors.
3 . Request the County Administrator and Auditor-Controller to
determine the amount of savings which accrue to the County
from the reduced requirement to match Social Security taxes
(FICA) as a result of the Dependent Care Assistance Program,
and transfer all such savings to the special account noted
in Recommendation #2 above.
4 . Request the Director of Personnel to survey all County
employees regarding their need for sick child care and their
willingness to pay a reasonable hourly rate to have a
trained person come to their home to care for their child
and report the results of the survey to our Committee on
December 12, 1988.
5 . Request the Director of Personnel to develop a proposal for
a sick child care program for County employees which would
provide for the hiring of trained, experienced and carefully
screened individuals (possibly licensed vocational nurses)
as Permanent Intermittent staff who could be available on
call to care for an employee' s child or children in the
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT; _ YES SIGNATURE:
_ RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
X APPROVE OTHER _
C P ;�Ik
66(u
SIGNATURE(S): Sunne W. McPeak Tom Torlakson
ACTION OF BOARD ON NovPmhPr 1 , 1988 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED X OTHER
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE
X UNANIMOUS (ABSENT AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN
AYES; NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD
ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN.
CC: County Administrator ATTESTED i% r / /988
Personnel Director PHIL BATCHELOR, CLERK OF THE BOARD OF
Audi tor-Control ler SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
BY ,DEPUTY
M382/7-83
Page 2
5 . (continued)
child' s own home with the employee paying the hourly rate of
the P. I . employee. The County' s subsidy to such a program
would consist of providing the P. I . employee health _
insurance in one of the County' s existing health plans and
possibly some additional benefits. The Director of
Personnel should prepare a report to our Committee on how
such a program could work and what the estimated cost would
be to the County and forward his report to our Committee on
December 12, 1988 .
BACKGROUND
On October 11, 1988, the Board of Supervisors asked the Director
of Personnel to report to the Board the details of the Dependent
Care Assistance Program by November 1, 1988 and report on the
status of a sick child care program.
On October 24, 1988, our Committee met with the Director of
Personnel and reviewed the attached report on the Dependent Care
Assistance Program. We believe that the Director of Personnel
and his staff have done an outstanding job in developing this
program. The Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP) is
authorized under federal tax law and allows an employee to
designate up to $5000 per year of his or her income to be held by
the employer. This income, which is held for child care
expenses, is exempt from federal taxation, thus saving the
employee money by allowing the employee to pay his or her child
care expenses with tax-exempt income. The employee goes ahead
and pays the child care provider and is then reimbursed by the
employer from the income which has been withheld for this
purpose.
As the attached report indicates, County employees will be able
to enroll in the DCAP program beginning November 1, 1988. The
actual deduction of income will be effective January 1, 1989.
The one drawback to this plan is that under the current law any
funds which are withheld at the request of the employee and are
not used within the same calendar year reverts to the
employer--it cannot be returned to the employee. We are,
therefore, asking that Congressman Miller consider sponsoring
legislation to modify this provision. In the meantime, we want
any such income which reverts to the County to be reserved for
child care expenses. In addition, the County will save a small
amount of money by not having to pay the employer' s share of
Social Security taxes (FICA) on the income that is set aside
under the DCAP. We want these savings to also be dedicated to
child care programs.
In terms of providing sick child care for County employees, the
Director of Personnel has researched the subject thoroughly and
has concluded that operating a child care facility for sick
children is very expensive. Everyone with whom Mr. Cisterman has
spoken has counseled the County against trying to operate such a
facility.
As a result, Mr. Cisterman has suggested that the Board look into
the possibility of hiring P. I. LVN' s who would only be paid when
they work. Mr. Cisterman believes that by providing health care
benefits for these employees we will be able to recruit qualified
employees. When an employee finds that his or her child is ill,
provision can be made for one of the P. I . LVN' s to come to the
home to care for the child so the employee can come to work. By
having nurses located in various parts of the County, it should
Page 3
be possible to have one readily available on short notice. The
employee will be responsible for paying the nurse an hourly rate
which Mr. Cisterman believes will be highly competitive with
private visiting nurses which are available for this purpose.
We are simply asking at the time that the Board agree to have
such a proposal developed in more detail and presented to our
Committee in December. We will then report this matter back to
the full Board when we have a detailed proposal and when we have
the results of the survey of employees we have requested.
AFFIDAVIT OF POSTING OF AGENDA
OF
THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS, COUNTY OF CONTRA COSTA
State of California }
County of Contra Costa }
I, J. Bosarge hereby declare that I
am a citizen of the United States of America, over the age of
18 years; that acting for the Board of Supervisors of the
County of Contra Costa I posted on
October 28,. , 19 88, at 651 Pine Street
Lobby, Martinez, California, an agenda for the regular
meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Contra
Costa to be held on November 1 , 19 88 , a
copy of which is attached hereto.
DATED: October 28, 1988
I declare under penalty of perjury
that the foregoing is true and
correct.
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