Thursday, December 13, 2007
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From South Florida Sun-Sentinel, December 10, 2007 By Brittany Wallman
http://www.sun-sentinel.com
Budget cuts affect safety, union says.
Looming over thousands of drivers on the highway into the heart of the city, a billboard demands the attention of tourists, warning the police department is "dangerously understaffed" and without a union contract.
"What is your safety worth?" it asks. A similar "advisory warning" aimed at citizens ran twice last week as a half-page ad in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Fort Lauderdale officers brought that message of fear to tourists via protest placards at the International Boat Show in October and twice in recent months outside City Hall.
The broadening campaign could get still larger. The union said recently that TV and radio commercials, and ads in travel publications, are coming.
The threatening ads belie the statistics that show crime dropping. Police say the trend probably won't last and the staff levels are dangerous for officers.
The officers' job contract expired more than a month ago and negotiations in a time of budget cuts have proved difficult. Friday, the talks were curt.
Police want a better retirement plan, with 2 percent annual increases in their checks. The city is diametrically opposed. Public employee pensions are in the spotlight as a potential budget buster because with plans like Fort Lauderdale's, the city makes up for investment declines.
The city prevailed over its largest union this year, persuading general employees to give up a city-backed pension for future hires. Instead, they'll have investment accounts like those in private industry, where the city contributes a fixed 9 percent of salary.
That kind of talk doesn't get a warm reception at Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 31.
Police originally wanted 31.5 percent raises over the three-year contract. Later, union president Jack Lokeinsky said they'd settle for no raises. Their bigger concern was retirement. Police pensions are much more costly, requiring the city this year to pay the equivalent of 49 percent of an officer's salary into the retirement fund. The officers contribute 7 percent.
City spokesman Ted Lawson said union contract negotiations give rise to strategies like the union's ad campaign. But the city still thinks a contract can be reached, he said, and neither side has walked away for good. The next talks are at week's end.
"We're going to work as hard as we can to resolve this as soon as possible," Lawson said. "It's unsettling, and this is an example."
A flier advertising jobs for Fort Lauderdale officers lists the salary as $43,393 to $63,897. Top pay can be reached in six years. Officers get up to five weeks of vacation. An officer hired at age 20 can retire at 40, with 67.6 percent of pay until death. If they stay until they're almost 44, the retirement check rises to 81 percent.
As good as the package might sound to some, city commissioners are dealing with the political reality that many cities offer more.
That, says union representative Sgt. Mike Tucker, is why Fort Lauderdale is suffering an exodus of officers. This year, at least 52 officers left, according to the city. Seventeen of them said they were going to work for another agency.
As of early November, the department had 468 officers and 42 vacancies — fewer officers and more vacancies than in the past two years.
Tucker said 127 officers will be eligible to retire in the next three years.
"I want the city to find a way to keep" them, he said.
Without a full staff, officers can't respond quickly.
Tucker said supervisors' main duty now is triage. Who needs an officer first?
Some incident reports back up this claim.
A woman called police one afternoon in mid-October, for example, reporting that someone was stalking her in a parking lot off Federal Highway. The officer noted: "This call held for 2 hours + both the reporter + suspect were GOA," or Gone On Arrival.
Debbie Liptak called in mid-October to report someone keyed her car.
"By the time [the officer] came, I had left," Liptak said in a phone interview. "I was tired of waiting and had other things to do."
Liptak said she missed a sergeant's phone call telling her police would be delayed.
"I steamed about it for an hour or so because I didn't check my messages," she said.
Tucker said when the department's fully staffed, the only delay for most calls is the time it takes to get there.
Another woman called in October to report her friend's home was burglarized, records show. The owner, former state Sen. Debby Sanderson, was out of town. Her friend, Pamela Shenk, whom Sanderson called in to help, was afraid to go inside.
She stood out front, waiting 90 minutes, she estimated, for an officer.
"I think it was awful," said Shenk. "I would have thought someone would have been there within 10 minutes at the most. I realize it wasn't a robbery in progress. But they stole stuff and the house was open."
Sanderson, a 20-year legislator with extensive budget experience, has a different perspective.
She had great praise for the officer she dealt with; her crime was solved, and the suspect is in jail. But she said the union's ads are "unprofessional."
The city needs to stand tough on pensions, she said, and explore cheaper options for retirements.
"And that's not an easy thing," said Sanderson. "It's a little like turning the Titanic."
Dodge City salary negotiations show promise
From the Dodge City Globe, December 11, 2007 By Mark Vierthaler
http://www.dodgeglobe.com
Talks with representatives from the Dodge City Fraternal Order of Police show promise, City Manager Ken Strobel said Wednesday night after negotiations.
"It went extremely well," Strobel said. "We have presented the officers with our salary proposal and, frankly, all of the agreements have tentatively been agreed upon."
Fresh negotiations came after a city-sanctioned salary study recommended a complete overhaul of the city's salary structure. Because the police are under a union contract, no changes can be made to their payments or benefits without negotiations.
The study, conducted by the Illinois consulting firm McGrath Consultants, found the majority of city-paid workers were vastly underpaid when compared to cities of comparable size.
Included in the city employees were emergency workers for the fire department and the police department. When presenting her recommendations to the city commission, McGrath CEO Victoria McGrath said the police salaries would have to be negotiated.
She presented her findings to the FOP Wednesday evening, explaining how the new numbers were decided upon. Although no firm decisions were made, Strobel said there that the discussion was positive.
Police Chief John Ball, who was on the city side of the negotiations, agreed with Strobel.
"It went very well," he said. "I'd hope the FOP negotiators would say the same."
Steve George, lead negotiator for the Dodge City FOP lodge, said Monday he was very pleased with the progress the city and the union had made over the past couple weeks.
"It's going well," he said. "The pay survey recommendations are looking like they will benefit all of us."
George said the two groups are hoping to have a final agreement in place by the new year.
The Fraternal Order of Police is a union for law enforcement officers that has more than 324,000 members and 2,100 lodges across the United States. According to the union's Web site, the purpose of the union is to "improve the working conditions of law enforcement officers."
The Dodge City Police Department's lodge is one of 38 active lodges within Kansas.
Morris, IL near deal on contract
From the Herald, December 12, 2007 By Michael Farrell
http://www.morrisdailyherald.com
Kopczick: Council hopes to vote on pact at Monday's meeting
A city council committee has reached a tentative agreement with representatives of the Morris Police Department on a new contract.
During a meeting of the Finance Committee at 11 a.m. Sunday, both sides came to an agreement on the new contract.
The city and the police were scheduled to go to arbitration on Thursday, Dec. 13.
Mayor Richard Kopczick said the agreement is being prepared in proper form, with the changes shown.
Kopczick hoped aldermen would be able to vote on the agreement during this Monday's council meeting. If the council accepts the agreement, the 20 patrolmen and corporals on the department will then vote.
The members of the Metropolitan Alliance of Police voted to accept a contract offering 3.5 percent annual pay increase for four years in June of 2006, but it was never approved by the council.
Four times between January and June the council either tabled or took no action on the proposed contract during council meetings.
This summer MAP filed an unfair labor practices complaint against the city and on July 5, members voted to seek arbitration. The last contract expired April 30, 2006. A four-year contract would expire April 30, 2010.
Police win pay hike Montgomery, FOP reach new deal
From the COMMUNITY PRESS, December 10, 2007 BY JEANNE HOUCK
http://news.communitypress.com
MONTGOMERY - The city's expired pact with the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) has been rejuvenated with a 3 percent pay hike for officers this fiscal year and 3.5 percent increases the next two fiscal years.
Starting pay for beginning officers on the police force, which has been working without a contract since last June, will immediately increase to $25.26 per hour. That includes not only the pay hike, but a jump designed to make the city better able to recruit officers.
Pay grades in the contract are retroactive to July 1 and good through June 30, 2010. Montgomery City Council approved the agreement at a meeting Dec. 5. FOP Ohio Valley Lodge No. 112 did the same Oct. 23.
The contract also:
* Hikes the hourly pay for detectives by 35 cents because they are so often on call.
* Establishes a new bonus system for officers who reach the top of their pay range.
* Increases the city's medical and hospitalization insurance caps by 6 percent every year and its dental and optical insurance caps by 3 percent every year.
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