Police Union Makes Few ConcessionsBy Carl WagenfohrCLEARWATER - The city's effort to trim the Clearwater Police Department's (CPD) 2010/11 budget is nearing an end, but the savings don't go much beyond the $2.3-million that Police Chief Tony Holloway committed to in June. With a proposal in hand from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) to take over the city's law enforcement at a net savings of about $6-million next year, the City Council in June decided to keep CPD, but directed Holloway to reduce his budget. The bulk of Holloway's $2.3-million cuts were in personnel, eliminating 26.9 full-time equivalent positions including 8 sergeants, 1 detective, and 2 patrol officers. Holloway also told the City Council that the police union, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), were willing to "come to the table," holding out the promise that more savings would come from reopening the current labor contract, which expires in September 2012, and gaining some concessions. City negotiators and the FOP met several times over the summer, but after initially agreeing to forego a general wage increase next year, FOP negotiators balked at several contract revisions that would have amounted to savings of about $1-million annually. "Both [Officer and Supervisor] units have rejected all the cost savings concessions that the City has proposed including the elimination or freezing of the merit step pay plan, the elimination of a minimum guarantee in compensation for court appearances, and the suspending of assignment pays," wrote Clearwater's Director of Human Resources, Joe Roseto, on August 11. Instead, the FOP proposed a one-day unpaid furlough for all their members in fiscal years 2010/11 and 2011/12, amounting to a savings of $66,000 in each year. The FOP's furlough proposal came with a caveat, however; the city would have to guarantee that Police Services would not be contracted out for those two years. According to Roseto, the City Council met in a closed-door executive session last week and a consensus was reached to accept the FOP's offer. Mayor Frank Hibbard, who in May said that he wanted to "get some reasonable concessions from the FOP union," said this week, "We got as much as we could get within the confines of the bargaining process. We have a contract and the only thing we could do was a wage reopener, and we got an agreement on no general wage increase and a 1-day furlough." Asked if the FOP's concessions were "reasonable", Hibbard answered, "We always want more." Hibbard also opined on the FOP-required "guarantee" to not outsource Clearwater's law enforcement for two years; "Do you want to look at this [CPD outsourcing] every year? I don't. It's disruptive. The Chief made some cuts, and I'm happy with that and we did not have to raise the millage rate." The FOP is in the process of conducting a ratification vote and, should it succeed, the contract revision will be brought to the City Council for approval. The next City Council meeting on the city's 2010/11 budget will be held on August 30th at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall. Public comment will be permitted.
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