For City Council Meeting October 28, 2025
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: Tanya Williams, City Manager
BY: Shama Curian, Director of Human Resources and Risk Management
Title
Request City Council to: (1) Adopt Resolution No. 8426 Approving the Memorandum of Understanding Establishing Compensation and Related Benefits for Employees Represented by the Rialto Police Benefits Association- General Unit; (2) Adopt Resolution No. 8427 Approving the Memorandum of Understanding Establishing Compensation and Related Benefits for Employees Represented by the Rialto Professional Firefighters’ Association Local 3688; and (3) Adopt Resolution No. 8428 Updating the Citywide Classification and Compensation Plan for Full-time and Part-time Employees; to Amend the Salaries for those Classifications Represented by the Rialto Police Benefits Association- General Unit and the Rialto Professional Firefighters’ Association Local 3688.
(ACTION)
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1) Adopt a Resolution approving the Memorandum of Understanding establishing compensation and related benefits for employees represented by the Rialto Police Benefits Association- General Unit;
2) Adopt a Resolution approving the Memorandum of Understanding establishing compensation and related benefits for employees represented by the Rialto Professional Firefighters’ Association Local 3688; and
3) Adopt a Resolution updating the Citywide Classification and Compensation Plan for Full-time and Part-time Employees; to amend the salaries for those classifications represented by the Rialto Police Benefits Association- General Unit and the Rialto Professional Firefighters’ Association Local 3688.
BACKGROUND
The labor agreements for the Rialto Police Benefits Association-General (“RPBA-G”) and Rialto Professional Firefighters’ Association Local 3688 (“Local 3688”) bargaining units expired on June 30, 2025. Both City representatives and the two bargaining groups initiated a focused negotiation process, requiring commitment from both sides to hold as many meetings as possible in an attempt to reach an agreement. City representatives and the Associations partnered together to ensure fair compensation while working towards a common goal of long-term fiscal sustainability.
The City continues to take necessary steps to meet current and future challenges, including continually shifting economic factors, increases to retirement costs, and changing demographics. These issues, along with the ability to provide competitive, fair-market wages, were the tenor of these negotiation meetings. The Associations and City management representatives have since held a number of collaborative and productive meetings to discuss the Memorandums of Understanding (“MOU”) and issues raised by both parties regarding hours, wages, working conditions, and personnel policies.
During the course of negotiations, management representatives met with the City Council to discuss the status and progress, receiving direction on specific items under consideration.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION
Each Memorandum of Understanding establishes the terms and conditions of employment and compensation for City employees represented by RPBA-G and Local 3688. Pursuant to the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, the City met and conferred in good faith concerning wages, benefits, and working conditions with the Employee Associations.
Balancing the understanding that the City continues to compete with surrounding municipalities to attract and retain talent with the possibility of future economic uncertainty, the respective negotiation members held true to their commitment to the process and worked closely with the City management representatives to reach an agreement. The proposed MOUs are 2-year terms commencing retroactively to July 1, 2025, and expiring on June 30, 2027. The memberships of each association have since voted to accept the City’s offer. The proposed MOU for RPBA-G is included as Exhibit 1-A, and the proposed MOU for Local 3688 is included as Exhibit 2-A.
Detailed information on the most notable revisions for the MOUs and Benefit Profiles are included below.
Wages and Other Compensation
The proposed MOUs provide for members in the RPBA-General and Local 3688 groups to receive cost-of-living adjustments (“COLA”) in each year of the contracts:
• July 1, 2025: 3%
• July 1, 2026: 3%
These COLA adjustments are reflected in Exhibit 3-A through a City Council adopted resolution.
Medical Benefit Allowance
The City of Rialto is among other public agencies in Southern California that contract with CalPERS to provide medical insurance to its employees. These Cities also provide employees with a medical benefit allowance to purchase medical, dental, and/or vision insurance through City-provided carriers such as CalPERS.
The proposed MOUs allow for increases over a two-year term, beginning December 1, 2025, to the medical benefit allowance to keep pace with increasing costs of health care premiums as follows:
• Effective December 1, 2025, the City will contribute an additional $150/mo. towards the Local 3688 monthly cafeteria contribution and an additional $175/mo. towards the RPBA-General’s monthly cafeteria contribution.
• Effective December 1, 2026, the City will contribute an additional $100/mo. towards Local 3688 monthly cafeteria contribution and an additional $150/mo. towards the RPBA-General’s monthly cafeteria contribution.
Deferred Compensation
The proposed Local 3688 MOU also provides for additional contributions to unit employees’ 401(a) plans as follows:
• Effective July 1, 2025: Those employees who have been employed between 5-9 years, the City shall pay an additional $100 per month towards each Local 3688 bargaining unit employee’s 401(a) deferred compensation plan for a total of $200/month, and an additional $25 per month towards each RPBA-General unit employee’s 401(a) deferred compensation plan for a total of $325/month.
• Effective July 1, 2025: Those employees who have been employed between 10+ years, the City shall pay an additional $100 per month towards each Local 3688 bargaining unit employee’s 401(a) deferred compensation plan for a total of $600/month, and an additional $50 per month towards each RPBA-General unit employee’s 401(a) deferred compensation for a total of $650/month.
Miscellaneous Items
The proposed MOUs contain revisions to comply with laws and clean-up language to update practices and procedures. These MOU items were proposed by City Management and the two groups to streamline, simplify, and modernize the document.
CITY ASKS:
• Local 3688: Those unit employees who are considered “Classic” under CalPERS agree to contribute an additional 1% of “persable” compensation to equal 10% towards the City’s Employer Contribution. For those classic employees that will pay 1% of the “persable” compensation, the City agrees to contribute $200/mo. into the employee’s 401(a) account.
• Local 3688: Employees hired on or after July 1, 2025, who possess the Firefighter II, Certified Company Officer, and/or Certified Driver certifications, shall only be eligible for cumulative certification pay for up to 2 of the 3 certifications.
• RPBA-Generals: Add one (1) specialty assignment of SANCATT and one (1) specialty assignment of PNT to the assignments receiving specialty pay.
• RPBA-Generals: Those unit employees hired on or after January 1, 2026, who obtain degrees towards the education incentive, must have Degrees earned from universities accredited through WASC, the ACCJC, or a regional equivalent.
• Cafeteria Benefits: Those unit employees who go on a leave of absence without pay other than workers’ compensation, shall have their cafeteria dollars prorated to hours worked.
• Vacation Accrual Accounting: Other than workers’ compensation, anytime a unit employee is on a leave of absence without pay, the vacation leave accruals will be prorated towards hours worked.
• Sick Leave: Other than workers’ compensation, anytime a unit employee is on a leave of absence without pay, sick leave accruals will be prorated towards hours worked.
• Overpayment in Paychecks: In the event of an overpayment in an employee’s paycheck, the employee will work with HR/RM and payroll to pay back the overpayments in a reasonable timeframe.
With the end of May 2025 Consumer Price Index increase for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers in the Riverside/San Bernardino/Ontario region being about 2.6%, along with the annual average increase in medical premiums of 11%, the proposed agreement strives to provide a compensation package that keeps up with expected inflation, allows the City to remain competitive in the current labor market pool, but also preserves the City’s financial position to react to potential future budget challenges.
The proposed agreement helps align the City’s workforce strategies with its business and service goals and represents a fair and equitable contract for the employees and the City.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
This request is not a Project as defined by Section 15378 of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines. A “Project” means the whole of an action, which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. Pursuant to Section 15378 (b)(5), a project does not include organizational or administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY
This action is consistent with Guiding Principle 3A in the General Plan:
“Our City government will lead by example, and will operate in an open, transparent, and responsible manner that meets the needs of the citizens and is a good place to do business.”
LEGAL REVIEW
The City Attorney has reviewed the resolutions and approved them as to form.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Operating Budget Impact
The Agreement with RPBA-Generals is projected to cost $2,459,509 for the two-year agreement, including CalPERS retirement costs and all associated costs that are tied to salary and benefit increases.
The Agreement with Local 3688 is projected to cost $891,316 for the two-year agreement, including CalPERS retirement costs and all associated costs that are tied to salary and benefit increases.
The costs for FY 2026-27 will be incorporated into the budget.
Capital Improvement Budget Impact
There is no impact to the Capital Improvement Budget through this action.