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< Training
Class Schedule for 2006 > June 28 – How
To Lobby and Politic June 29 – What
You Should Do Before Negotiations August 9 - How
To Lobby and Politic August 10 –
What To Do At The Negotiating Table September 20 -
How To Lobby and Politic September 21 –
How To Conduct Your Own Interest Arbitration Click here for more
information and to register – Class size is limited to 30!
NEW DALLAS/FORT WORTH METRO WAGE SURVEY POLICEPAY
has just released a new wage survey for the eight largest cities in the
Dallas/Fort Worth Metropolitan Area.
The survey uses the latest model developed by POLICEPAY. The new model calculates the value of
pension plans and retiree health insurance.
This is the most comprehensive model that we have ever used. The Dallas/Fort Worth survey shows Plano to
be the best paid department in the survey.
Arlington is at the bottom. You
can see the entire survey and documentation by clicking the link at the top
of the POLICEPAY.NET homepage. In
addition, you can learn how you can obtain this same type of survey for your
agency Council rejects police raises Pay freezes part of city
belt-tightening The Memphis City Council rejected a
proposed 1 percent pay raise for the city's 1,800-member Memphis Police
Association in a session that stretched late into the night Tuesday. The council's action, in a 7-5 vote, rejected a May 1
recommendation by a three-member council impasse committee to accept the
union's final offer on wages. With the council siding with the city
administration's wage proposal, police officers covered by the union will get
no pay raises over the next two years as the city tightens its belt. The
raises for cops would have cost the city a total of about $1.5 million. Mayor Willie Herenton
has proposed freezing salaries for two years for all of the city's 22 unions
as the city works through its fiscal recovery plan. Several council members who sided
with the city Tuesday said they simply did not have faith the city could
cover the cost of raises for employees, despite projections that about $40
million will be deposited into the city's reserves over the next two years. Council chairman TaJuan
Stout Mitchell said that while her decision to endorse the city's position
was not popular with employees, it was a "courageous" act for the
city's citizens. "It is right for the taxpayers
of this city when I am not certain if the projections are going to be
accurate or not," Mitchell said. Council member Barbara Swearengen Holt said she also wasn't convinced about the
city's budget projection, adding, "You can't get blood out of a
turnip." City finance officials said raises
proposed by all the unions would cost at least $11 million, a figure disputed
by union officials Tuesday. They said it was closer to $4 million. The council's decision was greeted by
a chorus of boos from police officers, who filled the chambers Tuesday. "I voted my conscience,"
said council member E.C. Jones, who supported the
union. Tommy Turner, police union president,
said later he was "not surprised at all" by the decision. He said
he had seen a trend of votes against unions in the recent impasse hearings. Voting in favor of the city and
against the raise were Edmund Ford, Holt, Scott McCormick, Mitchell, Rickey Peete, Jack Sammons and Brent Taylor. Siding with the
union were Dedrick Brittenum,
Joe Brown, Carol Chumney, Jones and Myron Lowery.
Tom Marshall was absent. Officer Pay
Raise Plan Stirs Controversy From WRTV6, May 18, 2006 INDIANAPOLIS - An
Indianapolis police pay raise offer from Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson is
drawing fire from the Fraternal Order of Police. Peterson made his pitch during a citywide roll call meeting on
Wednesday afternoon. The pay raise would put IPD officer
pay on par with that of the Marion County Sheriff's Department. FOP president Vince Huber said he's concerned that the plan
doesn't directly provide more money for officers with more experience and
training. "We don't want Indianapolis to lose any veteran officers to
other cities paying more salary and better benefits," Huber said. The plan would give most IPD officers
between a 3 percent and 6 percent raise. Peterson said the raise was made possible because of revenue
generated by raising the county option income tax. Police
supervisors union stands pat From the
Chicago Tribune, May 17,
2006 JOLIET - Joliet's police supervisors
union will continue trying to "educate" City Council members about
contract negotiations, said Sgt. John Albrecht, union president. 3 major
police unions press for more officers From the Boston Globe, May 17, 2006 Officials from the three major police
unions appeared at the City Council's budget hearings last night to advocate
for hiring more police officers, union officials said yesterday. The lobbying effort was made on the
same day that the City Council's Special Committee on Youth Violent Crime
Prevention also called for more officers as it released a preliminary report
detailing the correlation between police staffing and violence. Councilor Michael Ross, who is
chairman of the committee, said that the city must find more money for police
officers despite losing millions of dollars in state and federal funding. ''The more police on the street, the
lower the violence, but we can't do it with $85 million less than we've had
in the past," he said. ''It's not acceptable for us to use that as an
excuse. We have to find a way of doing
it." Mayor Thomas M. Menino
has so far said that the city cannot afford hundreds more officers. The
department has about 1,350 patrol officers, down from about 1,460 in 2000. Robert Kenney, president of the
Boston Police Detectives Benevolent Society, said he and patrol officers'
union head Thomas J. Nee discussed the importance of a strong police presence
at the hearing. ''We're down a lot of people, and we
can't perform our major function," Kenney said. ''A lot of people have
been hurt and killed, and I truly believe that it's due to the lack of
manpower." Kenney said he does not plan on
pushing for pay raises at the hearing because he is far more concerned that
money be spent hiring more police. City Councilor Robert Consalvo, chairman of the council's Ways and Means
Committee, said he is committed to finding the money for more police. He said
last night's hearing was designed to give police officials a forum to address
the department's policy and funding priorities before the council. ''I think it's clear to everybody
that we need to put more officers on the street," Consalvo
said. ''I am confident that this budget will include money for more
officers." Big boost in
Barstow police pay Council votes
3-2 for a 25 percent salary increase to compete with other law enforcement agencies From the Desert Dispatch, May 17, 2006 BARSTOW - City council members emerged from closed session and
announced a 25 percent pay hike for Barstow Police Department officers. Voting 3-2 for the raise, council members cited competitive
forces of other agencies vying for trained and experienced officers as the
reason for voting to modify the present Memorandums of Agreement (MOA) that
were set to expire in 2007. The new agreement means a $10,517 raise for an officer earning
the base pay rate of $42,068 per year. Det. Joe Silva said he is hoping that it will "make us more
attractive to the candidates down in the valley." In addition to the pay modification for Units Three and Eight the
Barstow Police Association and the Police Officer Management Association the MOAs were extended an additional year. Mayor Lawrence Dale said he was opposed to the agreement and
voted against it because it doesn't leave funds in the city budget for any
other employee group, but in fairness to them the council agreed to negotiate
with the other three city employee groups. Also voting against the modification was council member Paul Luellig Jr. who said he's afraid the city is returning to
an era of fiscal irresponsibility. While both Dale and Luellig praised
the Barstow police force as the finest in the state they agreed that it is
unfair to all the other city workers who are also quality employees. "We jumped off the deep end and slashed a knife across the
jugular of this city." Dale said. And echoing that concern, Luellig said
that Barstow was one of only three cities in the state that did not have to
lay off public employees when the budget crisis hit Califor
nia several years ago. But he said this raise will put Barstow $1.5 million in the red
for the next four years. Council member Gloria Darling said she voted for the raise
because Barstow has been suffering the loss of good personnel for the past
five years. "We can't get people that qualify to come to Barstow,"
she said. But Dale decried deficit spending and said the city will have to
reduce people down the road if new sources of revenue are not found. The meeting was attended by a large group of officers and other
supporters who took tur ns speaking in favor of the
department and Lt. Rudy Alcantara praised the
council's decision. He said it will greatly assist the department's retention
efforts. Joe Gomez, City Council member, said he "is proud of our
police department" and that public safety issues are his first priority. While also citing retention concerns, Gomez appealed to local
officers to convince the disgruntled members and those ready to leave that
things are going to get better. Although he agreed that council needs to address the public
safety concerns, especially attrition of trained officers, Luellig said that the average total compensation package
for a police officer in Barstow is $147,000 per year and that every dollar
increase in pay also costs the city 41 cents in benefits. While Darling made it clear that none of the money is coming
from the new hospital trust fund, Dale and other officials, speculated that
$300,000 of the $724,000 total cost of this proposal can come from interest
ear ned on the $12 million hospital fund. City Spokesman John Rader said that the entire amount of public
safety funding comes from the city's general fund and will be included in a
budget proposal presented by Interim City Manager Hector Rodriguez. While the agreement remains to be ratified by the police union
membership, Albert Toro, a spokesman for the Barstow Police Association, said
he is pleased with the adjustment and the council for acting responsibly and
predicted that the membership will vote to accept it. Toro also predicted that the lateral movement of trained and
experienced officers will begin moving towards Barstow. City,
county approve budgets Spending limit at $1.1B; more police, firefighters sought From the ARIZONA DAILY STAR, May 17,
2006 The Tucson City Council tentatively approved a $1.1 billion
budget Tuesday, setting the cap for next fiscal year's spending plan. Although the council gave its unanimous approval to the plan,
which would increase the number of police and firefighters, repair city
streets and improve Tucson parks, Councilwoman Carol West voiced concern over
the process of adopting the budget. The fiscal year begins July 1. West said City Manager Mike Hein's budget — which includes the
first year of his 10-year, $784 million program to expand services — was
difficult for her to decipher. For residents looking to find specific numbers in Hein's budget,
West said "heaven help" them. She also said the budget provides no
guidance for the city's Downtown Rio Nuevo redevelopment project, and what
might be spent on that program. "It just hasn't been a very good process," West said,
citing that the city is still bargaining with some employee labor groups and
the fact that the budget process got started late. Hein is proposing 43 new police officers and 41 more
firefighters and paramedics next fiscal year. He also wants to put an extra $4 million into expanded road
maintenance and $2.1 million for additional recreation programming and
facilities and additional child and family programs. West said she voted for the tentative spending plan because it
is simply a cap for how high the budget can go. The council will hold a
public hearing June 13 before adopting the budget. The budget only includes limited funding for pay raises, with 2
percent for civilian employees, 3 percent for public safety officers and no
merit increases. The highest-paid employees would get no raises, with that
cutoff yet to be set. Linda Hatfield, who represents the city's white-collar workers,
told the council that the raises aren't competitive with other cities in
Arizona. Hatfield said the average raise this year in Arizona was a 4
percent raise with an additional merit increase. Immigration
tensions continue The meeting was also the site of both pro-immigrant and
anti-illegal-immigrant groups voicing concerns about the immigrants-rights
march and rally that occurred April 10. Caroline Isaacs, who represents groups that staged the immigrant
march and rally, called a recent report by Tucson police about how its
officers handled the event and a counterprotest
"superficial and cursory." She called for an independent review of
police actions during the rally and counterprotest,
where a Mexican flag was burned. The council meeting was followed by a tense
anti-illegal-immigration rally led by Roy Warden outside the council
chambers. During the council meeting, Warden threatened violence against
anyone who crossed his free-speech perimeter during his flag-burning
demonstration. After the meeting, the 58-year-old Warden, who was arrested on
suspicion of assault, criminal damage and reckless burning after burning a
Mexican flag during the April 10 counterprotest,
announced he was going to retrieve his handgun after seeing pro-immigrant
protesters in his roped-off free-speech area outside council chambers. Upon returning with a gun in a holster on his hip, Warden moved
to a new area and told pro-immigration supporters that there was a "new
sheriff in town that's me." About 15 Tucson police officers kept the pro- and
anti-immigration groups separated. "You're damn lucky the police were here," Warden told
pro-immigration supporters. Warden did not burn a Mexican flag. No arrests were made. |
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