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City police will get 3
percent pay hike From
the
FOP: Vote
Expected: Offer to police includes raise of 8 percent
The
latest offer from the mayor's office to The
proposal is for an 8 percent pay raise effective Jan. 1 for the remainder of
the fiscal year but no pay increases other than merit raises
for the next fiscal year. Wednesday
night's vote by about 125 FOP members brought a standoff over pay raises
between the union and the city one step closer to an end. The
FOP declared an impasse after city officials offered a 4.5 percent raise for
the fiscal year that began July 1 and runs through June 30. Last
month the issue went before a neutral arbitrator, who awarded an 8 percent
across-the-board raise, effective Jan. 1. That had been the best offer
submitted by the FOP during negotiations with the city. By
law, Mayor Kathy Taylor had to choose between accepting the arbitrator's
ruling or request an election. She chose to begin work on a Dec. 12 election
before making the current offer. If
Darin
Filak, the president of the Tulsa FOP, said the
offer was recommended by the union's negotiating committee and passed
overwhelmingly by those members who attended a Wednesday evening meeting. "I
think the officers see this as a fair offer and want to send it to everyone
else," Filak said. "It's a win-win for
everybody. It allows us to get next year out of the way and allows the city
to prioritize its budget for the next year. It's a positive movement
forward." The
offer essentially is two one-year contracts, using the arbitrator's
recommendation this fiscal year and giving minimal increases based on merit
for the 2007-2008 fiscal year. No changes were
proposed for benefits. Both
Taylor and Filak said having the 2007-2008 fiscal year free of negotiations would give the city time to
examine the budget to get a better idea of where it stands financially. "I'm
happy that we can move forward," Deals
with the International Association of Fire Fighters; the American Federation
of State, County and Municipal Employees; and other city unions have yet to
be worked out. However,
a special City Council meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday in which an
executive session will be proposed to discuss negotiations with the FOP and
the other unions and their impact on the city budget. Council may
back raises for police Four
city councilors are sponsoring a resolution expressing support for the 8
percent pay increase that an arbitrator has recommended for the Tulsa Police
Department. The
resolution will be discussed during a council committee meeting at 10 a.m.
Tuesday in Room 201 at City Hall. Mayor
Kathy Taylor has called for a Dec. 12 special election that would allow the
public to decide whether police officers should receive the raises. The
resolution is sponsored by Councilors John Eagleton,
Bill Christiansen, Rick Westcott and Dennis Troyer. If approved, the resolution
would only be a statement of the council's position. "Almost
every one of us, including the mayor, campaigned on crime and public safety,
and most of us talked about paying the police officers what they're
worth," Westcott said. "We've talked about it, now it's time to
step up and do it." The
mayor said she agrees that police deserve a pay increase, as do all city
employees, who are 9 to 30 percent behind the pay scale for their jobs. She
said the city is operating with finite resources and "no new infusion of
capital into the budget." If
the raise is approved, "we're going to have to make some tough
decisions," Eagleton said the arbitrator has reviewed the
needs of the officers and the city's ability to pay and reached the
conclusion that at least for this year the city can cover the raises. If
voters approve the 8 percent pay increase, it would be effective Jan. 1. Budget
Director Pat Connelly said pay hikes for the 800-member force would add
$940,000 to the city's current budget. The
cost would be more next budget cycle because it would be for 12 months. The
fiscal year is from July 1 to June 30. Christiansen
said Connelly told the council last week that $3 million was left over from
last fiscal year. "I
thought the city's budget was much tighter than that. Since we have $3
million, I think the pay increase is the right thing to do," he said. The
city has to get police pay to a competitive level with surrounding
communities, he said. "That
is what the city has been doing," she said. "Nobody has been looking
at it on a long-term basis. We have to force ourselves to have the discipline
to do that." Eagleton said he, too, thinks police "are
entitled to what they have won through arbitration." He
said there are always problems allocating limited public resources. "It's
a tradeoff, this for that. For me, we need more police, better trained
police, and the ability to retain the good officers we have. It's a
no-brainer," he said. Westcott
said the administration argues that if raises are given to one employee
group, they must be given to all of them, and there's not enough money to do
that. "I
say, we have to start somewhere. We can take them one at a time. Right now,
the money is there for the police officers. Let's pay them," he said. When
asked about a public safety tax to fund police and fire, Eagleton
and Christiansen said they oppose it. Troyer and Westcott were undecided. When
"So
far, I'm pretty disappointed that the police haven't come to help me develop
a solution to this problem," the mayor said. "We need to work as a
team to figure it out." She
said the "easiest thing would be to accept the raise and not figure out how to pay for it long term, but that is not the
fiscally responsible thing to do." "This
shouldn't just be up to the mayor to figure out when the FOP and the chief
are running the Police Department," she said. Ambitious budget for Suozzi's $2.4B plan increases spending without tax
hikes, but calls for consolidation, police contract changes From
Newsday, September 15, 2006 Nassau
County Executive Thomas Suozzi today is expected to
submit an operating budget of $2.438 billion for 2007 that calls for a 3
percent increase in spending but no tax increases, layoffs, or service cuts. "Programs
will be consolidated, but no services will be lost. They will in fact be
better," said Deputy County Executive Thomas Stokes. Poll reveals police don't
like offer L.B.:
Union chief says more than half surveyed might still leave. From
the Of
the 415 officers who responded to a straw poll taken by the Long Beach Police
Officers Association on Aug. 31, 210 said the proposal would encourage them
to leave, 116 said they "will definitely be leaving as a result of this
offer," and 162 answered yes to "I was not looking to leave, but as
a result of this offer I will begin looking." Those
results - sent to the city council last week - are expected to be a key topic
of discussion at the council's closed session meeting today. Attached
to the results was a letter from POA President Steve James thanking the
council, mayor, city manager, police chief and other city leaders for their
efforts to address what he and others in the department say is a growing
crisis. James
read from the letter at last week's council meeting. Councilwoman Tonia Reyes
Uranga mentioned another letter - sent by the city
employees' union - demanding they get a 4 percent raise as well. So
far this year, 30 officers and two commanders have resigned from the police
department to take jobs with other law enforcement agencies. In James' letter
to the council, dated Set. 7, he said another 44 officers have sent job
applications to other police departments. James
also cited a leap in the number of officers applying for their Peace Officers
Standards & Training (POST) certificates as a sign of discontent. Several
years ago the city stopped paying officers for their intermediate and advance
POST earnings and switched to pay raises for college credits. Some police
departments, however, continue to pay officers for both. "In
a normal year, we would process approximately 20 applications for those
certificates," James wrote. "As of the end of July of this year,
the number was already up to 91. I have now checked since the presentation of
the offer and the number has now swelled to 130." "Since
these applications have no importance here in James
went on to say that a union representative with the Irvine Police Department
called to ask why City
Manager Jerry Miller said Monday that he will be directed by the council in
today's closed session on what to do next, but added that further discussion
with the department is a possibility. "I
need to have formal direction from the city council to have a negotiation strategy,
that is what I'm going in to get in tomorrow's meeting and that, I would
presume, would lead to further discussions," Miller said. "I
can't imagine they would say `No, don't talk to those people,"' the city
manager added. Councilman
Patrick O'Donnell, who represents the 4th District, first asked the city
manager and his staff to look into possible solutions to the problem of
retaining veteran officers at an Aug. 16 council meeting. O'Donnell,
the only council member to return calls seeking comment on the results of the
straw poll, said it was too soon to tell what action the council may take
Tuesday afternoon. "Certainly
the survey that was shared gives me concern, but I had concern all
along," he said. City
budget analysts said the offer, which breaks down to 5 percent pay increase
in April 2007, another 3 percent bump in October 2007, a 2 percent bump in
April 2008, followed by a 2 percent jump in October 2008, and April and
September of 2009. In
addition to the pay raise, the city could provide a 4 percent longevity pay
increase to officers with more than 10 years on the job in April 2007. The
following April, an 8 percent longevity raise would be given to officers with
15 or more years and a 10 percent raise would be awarded to officers with
more than 20 years in April 2009. City
analysts said the money, based on the city's settlement with Sempra Energy
over high gas bills in the winter of 2000-2001 and structural revenue growth,
could be provided only by staggering the pay out. Many
in the department are already suspicious of the city's financial dealings -
officers went several years without wage increases and gave up pay increases
in prior contract negotiations to keep their fully funded pensions, then
later were required to pay into the pensions. "`I
can make an extra $10,000 at another agency while I am waiting for the first
4 percent longevity bump to kick in and that bump is only worth $2,500 for
the whole year,"' James quoted one polled officer. "Why would I
wait for that?" The
officer was referring to the first increase in the proposal, which would not
take effect until April of 2007. The
councilman said he did not think the city could afford to continue to loose
veteran officers who have been trained with local tax dollars. It
is estimated that the cost of putting a recruit through the James
said he did not know what was going to happen in today's discussion and had
received no feedback on his letter or the poll results as of Monday
afternoon.
City
fire and police say rising health insurance costs, and inflation will take
away from the employee pay raise approved in this year's budget, and talk
of lowering matching retirement funds has emergency responders worried about
next year's budget. Both departments say a cut in benefits could
cut their forces. Police and firefighters say it will also be hard to
compete for new recruits, when other city's offer more to their employees. "I'm
here to tell you guys that morale in the Lubbock Fire Department is
low," said Vice President of the Lubbock Professional Firefighters
Association, Nick Wilson. He
says September 13th's approved pay raise won't help September
13th, President
of the Lubbock Professional Police Association, Donnie Davidson, also brought
concerns about possibly cutting matching retirement funds in the 2007-2008
budget session. "For
the next budget year of 2007, there will be at least 100 or more officers
that will have their 20 years in. If benefits were to be cut, that
could cause those officers to possibly retire and seek employment
elsewhere. That would be almost 1/3 of the department as it stands
now," said Davidson. Mayor
Miller says any change to retirement benefits would not be discussed until
next year, but City Manager Lee Ann Dumbald already
stated she does not support any change in the contribution rate or
match. Council
Members say they want to live up to their promise to increase police and fire
pay, but as Councilwomen Linda DeLeon stated, it
takes money that city leaders say isn't available right now. Mayor
David Miller says any change to retirement benefits would not be discussed
until next year, but City Manager Lee Ann Dumbald
already stated she does not support any change in the contribution rate or
match. So
what exactly did council do for fire and policemen Wednesday? Every
fireman will get an $1,800 raise. All police
officers will get an 1,200 raise, plus something
called differential pay, which is better pay for overnight
shifts. The 1,200 that police get will also be given to every
city other city employee. By
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