City, Police Can't Agree on Concessions

The and the Officers Association, which have a contract in effect until June 30, 2012, were unable Monday to come to an agreement on a deal on wage concessions to save money for the city.

The city asked the police officers to agree to give up the 3 percent wage increase scheduled for 2012. With terms similar to those requested by the city’s Teamsters Local 214 workers in December, the proposal would have allowed the union to keep the annual step increases and longevity payments.

The SPOA responded by offering a two-year extension that called for a 1 percent increase in 2012, a 2 percent increase in 2013 and a 3 percent increase in 2014. The association also wanted assurances that its members would receive higher pay increases if city staff received raises higher than those requested by the SPOA. The association also asked that longevity payments be increased if staff receive merit bonuses. In addition, the association asked that there be no insurance reopener and that the cost sharing for an HMO remain at the 2012 level of 15 percent for the remainder of the extension.

In his memo to the council, City Manager Todd Campbell said he could not recommend accepting the association’s counteroffer.

“It is not at all similar to my most recent counteroffer, it extends the current collective bargaining agreement out too far into the future and adds too many additional expenses to the city’s bottom line,” Campbell wrote in his memo.

The council did not act on the SPOA’s offer,  which would have saved the city about $26,000 wages in 2012.

Council member Brian Marl asked Campbell if the SPOA was aware of the concessions agreed to by the Teamsters and nonunion employees. Campbell replied in the affirmative.

The council did vote 5-2 to accept the Saline Sergeants Association’s counteroffer.

The SSA offered to extend the offer one year until June 2013. Instead of a 3 percent raise in 2012, its members will receive 1.5 percent raises in 2012 and 2013. The contract, which affects two employees, will save the city $3,060 in wages in 2012.

Mayor Gretchen Driskell said she was voting against the SSA’s offer because it didn’t go far enough.

“The Teamsters agreed to the concessions. We’ve asked all our employees to recognize the constraints we’re working under. I would vote not to accept the offer and to meet them at the table next year,” Driskell said. “All this offer does is extend the lack of parity (with other employees) for another year.”

Marl disagreed.

“I think this is a step in the right direction. Though it is not everything I want or desire, it’s progress and I am amenable to this,” Marl said. “This contract affects two people and does not have a profound or magnanimous affect on the budget.”

Driskell and council member Dean Girbach voted against accepting the counteroffer. Council members Marl, Pat Ivey, Glenn Law, David Rhoads and Linda TerHaar voted to accept it.

In December, both bargaining units agreed to accept concessions in health care benefits. The city sought concessions to eliminate a $640,000 gap in the general fund. The city worked with department heads to reduce that gap to $160,000 by April, which is when the city approached the police unions for wage concessions.

All of the city’s nonunion employees are participating in changes to health care benefits and a 2012 wage freeze, which includes steps and merit increases.