By Matthew Artz
Oakland Tribune
FREMONT — The city has delayed hiring several police officers to save money that it had hoped to get from police union concessions.
The Fremont Police Officers Association remains Fremont’s only union not to come to terms with the city on a 2 percent pay reduction this fiscal year — about $530,000 — to help the city balance its budget.
With no agreement likely, the police department recently implemented several cuts to save the money.
The department has reduced several training programs, including SWAT training, which saves money and also reduces the need for officers to work overtime covering for those on training, Chief Craig Steckler said.
The department, which is authorized for 183 officers, has about 175 working currently. Steckler said he would have filled three or four of the vacant positions had the union come to terms with the city on a giveback this fiscal year, which ends in June.
“In the last two weeks it was apparent the union wasn’t going to settle, so we kicked that strategy into place,” Steckler said. “We couldn’t wait any longer to make the savings we were targeted to make.”
Steckler had planned to leave several officer positions vacant to avoid layoffs if next year’s budget includes more cuts to the department.
All city unions are on their last year of a two-year contract that provided no raises or pay cuts. Last December, civilian employees took five furlough days, amounting to 2 percent of their annual pay. In January, firefighters agreed to give up pay and accept furloughs, which also amounted to 2 percent of their pay.
Police union President Greg Pipp said the city didn’t offer police officers the same deal as firefighters and essentially wanted police not to get paid for taking their vacation time.
Pipp said the union wanted any concession to include a contract extension. “We’re willing to work with the city,” he said.
Copyright 2011 Contra Costa Newspapers