6e Relocation motion
Item Number: 6e_motion Meeting Date: September 11, 2018 1 MOTION 2018-10: 2 A MOTION OF THE PORT OF SEATTLE COMMISSION 3 4 modifying the executive director employment agreement 5 with Stephen Metruck to increase the amount of 6 relocation reimbursement due to changes in federal tax 7 law to account for taxes withheld from reimbursement 8 payments; providing an effective date. 9 10 PROPOSED 11 SEPTEMBER 11, 2018 12 13 TEXT OF THE MOTION 14 15 The Port Commission hereby modifies the employment agreement approved by the 16 Commission on December 19, 2017, appointing Stephen Metruck as Executive Director of the 17 Port of Seattle, to increase the amount of relocation reimbursements to account for taxes 18 withheld from payments, and to increase the maximum amount of relocation reimbursement 19 from $100,000 to $133,000, in consideration of changes in federal tax law. 20 21 This motion shall be applied retroactively to the effective date of the employment agreement. 22 23 STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE MOTION 24 25 The Port's employment agreement with Executive Director Stephen Metruck approved 26 December 19, 2017, provides for relocation expense reimbursement to assist him in moving his 27 residence from outside the state of Washington to the Seattle area. The maximum amount of 28 all relocation reimbursement was set at $100,000, subject to the terms of Attachment B of the 29 employment agreement (attached). 30 31 Federal tax law in effect at the time the agreement was approved allowed individuals to claim a 32 deduction for moving expenses paid in commencement of work at a new principal place of 33 work. The port anticipated Executive Director Metruck would be able to deduct federal income 34 taxes on the reimbursements. 35 36 The federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, signed into law on December 22, 2017, made several 37 changes to the taxability and deductibility of relocation reimbursements. Effective December 38 31, 2017, an employee can no longer deduct moving expenses, nor can an employer pay or 39 reimburse an employee's moving expenses on a tax-free basis. 40 Motion 2018-10 Executive Director Relocation Reimbursement Page 1 of 2 41 Due to these changes in the tax law, Executive Director Metruck would be required to pay taxes 42 on his relocation reimbursements, and thus the relocation benefit would be reduced below the 43 amount authorized by the commission prior to enactment of the tax law. 44 45 This action would increase Executive Director Metruck's relocation reimbursement and would 46 increase the maximum total amount of the relocation reimbursement to reflect anticipated 47 taxes on the approved relocation benefit. The action would be applied retroactively to 48 reimbursements previously approved. He has previously submitted reimbursement receipts for 49 some expenses and it is assumed he will request reimbursement to the maximum originally 50 anticipated amount of $100,000. 51 52 Adoption of this revision will honor the intent of the employment agreement. All other terms 53 and conditions of the employment agreement shall remain the same. 54 55 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ATTACHED 56 Employment agreement executed December 19, 2017 Motion 2018-10 Executive Director Relocation Reimbursement Page 2 of 2
Limitations of Translatable Documents
PDF files are created with text and images are placed at an exact position on a page of a fixed size.
Web pages are fluid in nature, and the exact positioning of PDF text creates presentation problems.
PDFs that are full page graphics, or scanned pages are generally unable to be made accessible, In these cases, viewing whatever plain text could be extracted is the only alternative.