Though faced with potential layoffs and a closed city council
meeting Monday night, police and fire unions did not agree to any
last-minute contract deals with city officials over the weekend,
according to Gilroy officials and union representatives. However,
city staff said that the current deals with the other two unions
and eight high-ranking employees will effectively close down City
Hall every other Friday starting next month.
Though faced with potential layoffs and a closed city council meeting Monday night, police and fire unions did not agree to any last-minute contract deals with city officials over the weekend, according to Gilroy officials and union representatives. However, city staff said that the current deals with the other two unions and eight high-ranking employees will effectively close down City Hall every other Friday starting next month.
Last week, all of the city’s non-emergency workers agreed to take every other Friday off without pay throughout the next two years and to accept temporary pay cuts rather than layoffs. Councilmen Perry Woodward and Craig Gartman voted against both proposals, which will save the city $1.6 million annually over the next two fiscal years. Council member Cat Tucker joined the pair in rejecting the Gilroy Management Association’s proposal because she said she preferred heavier cuts from the city’s top-level employees rather than slashing every employees’ salary by the same amount. Other council members have also said there is a fundamental disagreement among the body whether it should cut union expenses equally or spare those earning less by cutting more from those earning six figures.
Along with the 23-member GMA and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 101 – Gilroy’s largest union with 100 members ranging from city engineers to emergency dispatchers – City Administrator Tom Haglund announced last week that Gilroy’s eight un-represented employees – including himself and other high-paid department heads – agreed to take furloughs over the next two years and forego any raises over the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
The deals so far will save Gilroy $1.6 million annually over the next two fiscal years. Nearly 70 percent of that money will go back into the general fund – narrowing next year’s expected deficit from $4.7 million to $3.6 million out of $37 million in expenses. The rest of the money – about $500,000 – will replenish the city’s water and sewer accounts that pay salaries for associated employees. The same cost reductions will occur the following fiscal year.
The bulk of the savings come from the furlough days, which will happen the first and third Fridays of every month, beginning July 1, Haglund said. Everyone, from Gilroy’s janitors to its top boss, will have to take the days off, effectively closing City Hall twice a month.
State law bars police officers and firefighters from striking, which means residents will still have cops and firefighters on call the two days a month City Hall will shut down beginning July 1. As a recourse, however, public safety employees can invoke what’s known as binding arbitration – which has become a contentious issue lately – to summon a third-party lawyer who considers the city’s and unions’ proposals line by line and then picks one. Limited negotiation is allowed afterward.
Aside from the forced unpaid days reducing management and municipal employees’ annual earnings by about 9 percent, Haglund said AFSCME employees also voted Thursday to forfeit a previously agreed-upon 4 percent “cost-of-living adjustment” over the next year – worth about $400,000.
This wage freeze comes after the city council already halted additional merit-based pay hikes earlier this year for all employees through at least June 30, 2010. The move prompted the Gilroy Police Officers’ Association and Fire Local 2805 to file grievances with the city because they said it violated labor laws, but AFSCME and the managers’ group agreed to accept the merit freeze. Police and fire unions are still negotiating.
Both the un-represented employees and the recently formed managers group had not yet negotiated their cost-of-living raises, but they also agreed to forego any salary hikes over the next year. AFSCME also agreed to give up tuition reimbursements – a cost of about $10,000 for the city, Haglund said – for employees who take classes to bolster their value at work.
Not paying AFSCME employees for one day will save more than $22,500 in salary and benefits costs – or $540,000 annually under the agreed-upon furlough arrangement – AFSCME Business Agent Tina Acree said.
Officials with knowledge of the negotiations said the two proposals fell short of the council’s demand for each union to cut 16 percent of personnel costs, and Tucker said she rejected the managers’ proposal because she was looking for permanent pay cuts. The approved AFSCME proposal avoids 13 layoffs and GMA’s proposal spares four of its 23 members – who range from fire battalion chiefs to budget officers – who were slated to be cut, sources said.
The council will formally vote on the union deals Monday, when the body will also vote on next fiscal year’s budget. Mayor Al Pinheiro said he hopes to have resolutions with police and fire unions by then, as well.
Fire Local 2805 Representative Jim Buessing has declined to detail his unions proposals, but a 16 percent cut to the 33-member union equals about six firefighters. Four firefighters and other support staff were among the 48 full-time employees across the city who lost their jobs Jan. 31, bringing Gilroy’s workforce down to 227 people. Police Representative Mitch Madruga has also declined to detail his union’s proposal, but a 16 percent cut equals about 10 of the department’s 57 sworn officers.
No officers lost their jobs in January, but two took jobs with the Watsonville Police Department earlier this month amid uncertainties surrounding their positions, which will remain unfilled, Police Chief Denise Turner said.
While Gilroy has typically relied on its robust reserve fund to resolve financial hiccups, council members have said they are unwilling to further drain the rainy day fund after a $4.7 million hit last year and an expected $8.4 million reduction by the end of the current fiscal. The fund will hold about $13.6 million next fiscal year, or about 36 percent of expenses. The fund will also have to cover any general fund shortfalls left after union talks.
