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Flint police supers await contracts Officers making more than superiors From WJRT, March
29, 2006 FLINT- As it stands right now, supervisors in the Flint Police
Department make less than the officers. The officers may have just settled their
contract, but the sergeants, lieutenants and captains are still working
without one. An officer recently got promoted to a
sergeant and had to take a pay cut. He's now making $1.50 less an hour. One down, two to go. The Flint police
officers just settled their contract and now members of the sergeants,
lieutenants and captains union want to settle theirs with the city. "They have not made any efforts to
settle this contract with us. All we want is a contact similar to what the
officers have received. They have refused to let us get that," said Sgt.
Rick Hetherington. In fact, Hetherington says the city offered
them 4 percent less of a raise that was given to the officers. They just want
around the same 21-percent raise package their co-workers got. "It's very stressful,"
Hetherington said. "The cost of living has raised approximately 20
percent since 1998. We haven't had a raise since then. It make is difficult
to raise a family." Frustration is also being felt by the
lieutenants and captains union, which haven't had a raise in five years. Both unions -- who represent about 73
members of the department say they've offered
concessions, but the city won't budge. Hetherington believes the mayor is
behind it. "I'm certain that he's probably given
people certain marching orders they're following, but I don't know that to be
true," Hetherington said. ABC12 asked for a response from the city
but a spokeswoman did not return our call. An arbitration date has been set
for June. Hopes raised
about forging new police contract From The Brownsville Herald, March
28, 2006 The city proposed annual pay increases for three years. The pay
raises will not, however, be added to base pay, which is the fixed pay
employees receive that doesn’t include cost-of-living or seniority increases.
If increases are rolled into base pay, it continues to grow and generate
larger percentage increases in later years. City's Budget Not So Bleak From the Gilroy Dispatch, March 29, 2006 Gilroy - A sneak preview of Gilroy's five-year budget shows a
half million dollar surplus for the year, rather than the $4.5 million
shortfall projected last year. The revenues would bring the city's total surplus funds to $25.3
million, according to preliminary budget figures given to city leaders during
a Monday workshop. The preliminary figures contrast sharply with dire financial
predictions issued last year by city officials, when a battle with the city's
firefighter union over wage increases and an expensive retirement package was
just heating up. Now, as the fight continues in the hands of an outside
arbitrator, city officials are finding themselves with a rosier financial
picture than originally predicted. "What this tells us is that we have a little room for
maneuvering for the first time in three and a half years," City
Administrator Jay Baksa told council members and
planning commissioners Monday night. A number of factors contributed to the savings, according to Baksa, who pointed to returns of hundreds of thousands of
dollars in state takeaways from local taxes, as well as financial belt
tightening across all city departments. Cost-cutting included scaling back
support for the city's Economic Development Corporation and Visitors Bureau,
freezing part-time wages and cutting hours at the Gilroy Museum. The cuts saved the city $28 million in recent years, according
to Baksa. "We didn't have to do big stuff because we did a lot of
little things that all added up," he said. That conservative approach netted the city $810,435 in the
2004-2005 fiscal year, compared to the nearly $600,000 deficit projected for
that year's budget. This year, surplus revenues will come in at $554,289, but
Baksa is predicting a $4 million shortfall in the
upcoming 2006-2007 fiscal year that begins in July. He blamed that deficit on spiraling health care and retirement
costs for the city's 270 employees, noting that savings could come in that
area as well. Last year, the vast majority of Gilroy's public employees
agreed to pick up a percentage of increases in their health care costs, and
officials hope to convince firefighters and police to do the same. The police
union begins contract negotiations with City Hall this spring. In the meantime, council members can start thinking about
restoring programs or adding new services, against the backdrop of an
arbitration process that could steer some of those excess funds to
firefighters. The arbitrator is expected to issue a final decision by the end
of April. Baksa is scheduled to present the city's
updated five-year operating budget to council on May 8. The city had a total budget this year of $160 million. Police receive new contract Council approves deal to increase
annual pay by about 4.75 percent
From the Record Searchlight, March 23,
2006 Redding police have a new labor
contract that will cost $415,000 more than the city originally budgeted. The City Council on Tuesday
unanimously approved the five-year deal, which will grant police annual
raises averaging 4.75 percent. The council last month earmarked
$290,000 for the police contract from expected pension rate savings and
anticipated tax revenues. But officials had to come up with
$125,000 more Tuesday. The council decided to take that money out of the
police department rather than cutting city support for Turtle Bay Exploration
Park, the Shasta County Arts Council or street maintenance. None of the cuts in the department
will hurt public safety service levels, Police Chief Leonard Moty said. At worst, the cuts will keep the
department more dependent on grants covering some officers and technicians. That sacrifice is worth the
competitive salaries the new contract will provide over the next five years, Moty said Wednesday. "The job market for police
officers is getting competitive," Moty said.
"There are thousands of openings, and it's difficult to attract quality
officers." The department will tap savings from
jail booking fees for $60,000, or nearly half the extra funding needed to pay
for the new contract, Moty said. Shasta County charges city police
departments about $140 for every one of their prisoners booked into the jail.
The county had cut that fee by half last year under a budget deal with the
state. Redding expects to save $200,000 a year. The department used $130,000 of those
savings to restore two of the four community police officer positions it had
frozen earlier, Moty said. Administrators had hoped
to apply the rest of the booking-fee savings to officer salaries now covered
by grants. The department will carve out another
$60,000 by reducing its two-person crime-analysis division to one person. The
downsized technician has been reassigned to an open position in police
records, Moty said. Finally, the department plans to save
$5,000 by hiring one entry-level officer among the four it plans to add to
the force. Contract negotiations between the
city and the 111-member Redding Peace Officers Association (RPOA) started in October and deadlocked early this
winter. The city had offered the RPOA annual raises averaging 3 percent over five years substantially
less than what the city ultimately granted. Police agreed to accept a 10 percent
health insurance premium, higher insurance deductibles and prescription co-pays
as part of the agreement. Redding is self-insured. The city
funnels $965 a month for each employee into a cash pool, out of which it pays
insurance claims. Police would pay $96 a month into
that pool starting in July, under the new contract. The city this month will start
negotiations with Redding Firefighters Local 1934. Administrators have not budgeted any money to cover pay raises for firefighters
beyond the 3 percent programmed into the 10-year financial plan. |
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