By Paul Eakins
Long Beach Press Telegram
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Without contract concessions from city labor groups, the elimination of 76 police officer positions and other “Plan B” budget cuts are “going to go ahead,” Mayor Bob Foster told the Press-Telegram Tuesday night.
The City Council didn’t finalize the 2011 fiscal year budget during its meeting Tuesday, giving officials one more week to negotiate with union leaders to help eliminate an $18.5 million general fund deficit. The ramifications of Plan B cuts, which are only to be implemented if employee associations don’t agree to forgo contractual pay raises, didn’t even come up.
However, Foster said after the meeting that if the Long Beach Police Officers Association doesn’t agree to forgo its 2 percent pay raise, which will cost the city about $6 million, then police cuts are unavoidable.
Under City Manager Pat West’s “Plan A,” 27 police officers are being cut. Plan B would bring that number up to 76, though it’s unclear how many would actually be laid off because of vacancies and retirements.
POA President Steve James told the Press-Telegram last week that the association isn’t going to agree to any pay freezes.
Last year, officers voted to forgo a 9.3 percent pay hike that they had been promised, instead getting an 11 percent raise spread out over five years. That saved the city $7.6 million this year and was expected to save $15 million over five years.
James said that amounts to a $5.5 million savings in the coming fiscal year, so the police have already done their part.
“It’s very difficult for me to go back to my members and say, ‘On top of the $5 1/2 million, I need you to give more,”’ James said.
In seeking pay freezes, Foster is also calling for pension reform as well.
Under his plan, in lieu of pay raises, city workers would be credited with an equal contribution to their share of pension costs. Currently, the city pays for most of the employees’ share.
“What I’m trying to do is get the city on the path to financial stability,” Foster said.
That means pension reform, and soon, the mayor said.
“If we don’t do that, it’s very simple,” Foster said. “We aren’t going to be able to sustain this (current city services).”
West said Tuesday that officials are still negotiating with other major city unions, namely the Firefighters Association and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents most of Long Beach’s non-public safety and non- management employees.
Three small unions, those representing attorneys, prosecutors and auditors, have agreed to pay freezes and pension reforms, including the creation of a new, less generous pension tier for new employees.
The question is, with the police association so adamantly opposed to making concessions, and the city expecting deficits for years to come, how long could police cuts continue before someone - city officials or police representatives - gives in to the other side?
Neither Foster, who was elected in 2006 on the promise of adding 100 new police officers, nor James, whose power comes from his members, want to see officers laid off.
Foster said he didn’t know just how long the stand-off could go on or how many police positions could be cut before it’s too many.
“I’m relying on the chief to tell me, and then we’d have to explore every option after that,” the mayor said, referring to Police Chief Jim McDonnell, who himself has avoided saying what the minimum number of officers for Long Beach should be.
Foster said public safety isn’t all about the number of police officers, but also involves libraries and park programs. Police make up 49 percent of the budget, and the mayor said he wants to keep it that way.
“Police are largely reactionary,” Foster said. “We need to do things that prevent crime in the future, too.”
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