By Phil Fairbanks, The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.)
Three top managers in the Buffalo Police Department are suing the city and state control board, seeking the same $5,000 pay raise given to rank-and-file officers.
The suit pits the Police Department’s top brass against their boss, Mayor Anthony M. Masiello, and directly challenges the control board’s position that no managers should receive the raise.
It also pits Police Commissioner Rocco Diina against the mayor.
All that appears to raise the ire of the man heading the control board.
“We need city managers protecting the interests of the city and its residents, not managers looking out for their own best interests,” Thomas E. Baker, control board chairman, said in a statement.
The three managers - two deputy police commissioners and a chief - say the issue is pay equity, not loyalty to the mayor or control board. The suit also involves two retired managers.
“They deserve the raise,” Police Commissioner Rocco J. Diina said of his managers. “These are hard working, dedicated employees, and when they were promoted, it was with the assurance they would receive these raises.”
The suit has divided the Masiello administration and added a new twist to the legal battle over who at City Hall will get a pay raise. Several public employee unions are suing the city and control board over the board’s decision to freeze salaries.
The police lawsuit is unusual because it involves managers who, under the City Charter, normally are guaranteed the same pay raises as rank-and-file police officers. The suit claims the city has a 25-year practice of following the Charter and demands the plaintiffs receive the $5,000 plus two other 3.4 percent raises given to unionized officers.
“A deal’s a deal, and the deal was we would receive these raises,” said Deputy Commissioner Mark E. Blankenberg, one of the plaintiffs. “It’s insulting that, after being here this long and making tough decisions that have saved the city millions of dollars, we would be left out of this raise.”
Joining Blankenberg in the suit are Deputy Commissioner Crystalea Burns Pelletier, Police Chief George M. Loncar, former chief Lawrence M. Ramunno and former inspector Harold Litwin Jr. Ramunno and Litwin are retired.
The suit is based on a City Charter requirement that police managers receive the same raises as unionized officers. The Charter also says the Common Council, which approved the pay freeze for managers, has exclusive power over pay and benefits.
“This is very disturbing,” Masiello said of the suit. “These are management people. They’re part of my team. Besides, this isn’t the first time we’ve asked exempt employees to take a wage freeze.” Masiello and Baker see the suit as an irresponsible attempt to increase managers’ pay at a time when Buffalo is starving for money.
City Hall sources say Baker’s anger over the lawsuit became evident at a recent meeting with Masiello, Diina and several others. He reportedly told the mayor that if the plaintiffs worked for him, he would fire them immediately.
Baker declined to comment on the meeting, but his statement reveals his strong feelings about the suit.
“The individuals involved in this lawsuit are members of City Hall management,” he said. “With the city in a fiscal crisis, drowning in personnel costs, we need a cohesive management effort in City Hall to cut those costs and maintain vital city services.”
Diina, one of the few Masiello appointees supporting his managers, says the control board needs to understand why they deserve a raise. He pointed to lower overtime and court time costs as evidence of their success.
“They’ve saved the city millions of dollars,” Diina said.
Ramunno, one of the five plaintiffs, said the pay freeze was galling because it was done without the department’s knowledge. He also suggested that the control board’s reaction to the lawsuit reveals a lack of knowledge and expertise about police matters.
“They’re bean counters,” Ramunno said. “I would expect that from a control board that knows nothing about the inner workings of the Police Department. This isn’t something we wanted to do, but our backs are to the wall.”