As tension between the City of Hollister and the Hollister
Police Department builds over money, officers say they are willing
to give back some compensation time, but refuse to renegotiate with
the city over contract concessions for a fear that their benefits
will be taken from them.
As tension between the City of Hollister and the Hollister Police Department builds over money, officers say they are willing to give back some compensation time, but refuse to renegotiate with the city over contract concessions for a fear that their benefits will be taken from them.
The Hollister Police Officer’s Association (POA) decided in a majority vote Tuesday night to give back eight hours of compensation time each officer received for working on the national day of mourning for former President Ronald Reagan.
Firefighters in the Hollister Fire Department also agreed to give those hours back, but neither organization has submitted an official claim in writing to the city yet, said City Manager Clint Quilter. The city calculated it would save approximately $26,000 from the return of both departments’ hours, but the POA believes that number should be considerably higher.
The POA feels its attempt to help alleviate the city’s financial woes by giving back the comp time were overshadowed by a letter it received from the city asking it to consider renegotiating portions of their contract, said Sgt. Ray Wood, POA president.
A letter written by Quilter stated the city would like to discuss “possible cost-saving measures that might assist in resolving (the city’s) financial shortfall.”
The POA responded in writing, stating it has no desire to open contract negotiations and that it expects the city to honor the entire contract, which was “negotiated in good faith.”
Wood believes the city is attempting to cut the officer’s retirement package of 3 percent at age 50, which the union negotiated with the city to increase from 2 to 3 percent about four years ago.
When an officer retires, the 3 percent at 50 package would allow them to receive final compensation based on their years of service multiplied by three.
“They won’t come out and say that, and if we open up negotiations the city can attempt to make alterations… in the big picture they could say, we’re not giving (that 1 percent) to you,” he said. “Our stance is, we know there’s a problem, do what you have to do but take care of the people that are still here, still doing the job.”
If the city honors this contract, which also includes the same increase to Hollister firefighters’ retirement benefits, when both contracts are in full effect by 2006 it will cost the city $1 million out of its general fund a year, according to Mayor Tony Bruscia.
Cutting those benefits could help the city considerably with it’s projected $16 million deficit over the next five years, Bruscia said.
“I know the police department has been hit pretty hard as far as some of the cuts,” he said. “The fire department has been clear that they will at least consider concessions. We need the police department to consider that.”
Renegotiating with the city over pay increases and benefit packages, and possibly decreasing them would not only destroy morale within the department, but would drive officers away and make it difficult to recruit new ones, said Sgt. Mike Bogosian, POA vice president.
“They want us to work with less people for less money. It’s a tough situation but they have avenues they could have dealt with to alleviate the problem,” he said.
In June, when the city spared 12 people on the city’s layoff list, it failed to prioritize the community’s needs, Wood said.
“They chose to keep those people – they had the opportunity to put us in the black, they kept us in the red,” he said. “In that were two people that were our own – we’re making the sacrifices they’re asking us to make… The community demands public safety.”
Quilter would not say what the city wants to negotiate with the police department about, but said other groups, including the fire department and the Services Employment International Union have agreed to discuss a number of strategies.
“I’m not going to negotiate with the police department through the newspaper,” he said. “If the police department wants to meet with the city about cost savings, they should sit down and meet with the city about cost savings.”
Bruscia, who has criticized the police department for not accommodating the city during its financial predicament, said the purpose of the city’s letter was not to go after one specific aspect of the officers’ contract, but to solicit their help on a grander scale, he said.
“We don’t care if it’s from their retirement, or the (6 percent) pay raise they just got, it doesn’t matter,” Bruscia said. “The dollars are the dollars, and the point is that we asked, are you willing to give up some of your pay increases and they sent a very specific ‘no,’ and that’s frustrating.”
While Bruscia conceded the police department has suffered a number of cuts concerning its budget and staff, the reality is that the city simply cannot afford pay increases at this time, he said.
“If they’re so damn afraid of getting good people to come in, if they’re so concerned about what’s good for this community… $16 million isn’t going to disappear, and the only way to fix it is to reduce,” Bruscia said. “I don’t blame them, nobody wants to give up their benefits… it’s just reality. People need to come to terms with that.”
The POA believes the city is diminishing the value of the concessions they’ve already made, such as working with less people and in the comp time hours given back for the Reagan holiday, Wood said.
The city’s calculated $26,000 saved in returned comp time hours is too low, Wood said.
Because the police department is understaffed, if an officer were to take eight hours of comp time the position would have to be filled with an officer on overtime; an extra 12 hours, he said. Together, the city would have had to pay a total of 20 hours every time an officer took a comp day, he said.
“They’re only figuring an eight-hour day and they’re multiplying that times salary, but you can’t do that because we’re already short-handed,” Wood said. “They’re assuming we can give a person time off and have it not affect the rest of the shift. They’re giving these numbers, when in fact it’s a whole lot more.”
Quilter said the most the city would have had to pay was for a total of 12 hours, but he was unsure how much money they city would save because of it.
