Police officers and firefighters will take furlough days as part
of their agreement with the city to reduce costs.
Police officers and firefighters will take furlough days as part of their agreement with the city to reduce costs.
Fire Local 2805 members will take six unpaid 24-hour days and Gilroy Police Officers’ Association members will take 12 unpaid 10-hour days each year, according to Gilroy Fire Department Chief Dale Foster and Gilroy Police Department Capt. Scot Smithee said.
While two council members view the arrangement as cutting too deeply into already strapped departments and doomed to create problems with overtime pay, other council members point out that the chiefs signed off on the furlough process and said they could always reopen negotiations if the cuts don’t pan out as expected.
The new contracts will save the city $1.5 million, cutting its budget deficit to $1.6 million. An “overwhelming majority” of firefighters ratified their contract last month, but police only ratified their contract by a narrow margin late last month. The city, which has an operating budget of about $37 million, was faced with a $4.7 million deficit. The city council will vote on the police and fire unions’ contracts at a July 6 meeting.
The agreements were the result of consulting with Foster and Police Chief Denise Turner on how to best cope with cutting back law enforcement budgets, Mayor Al Pinheiro said.
“We asked them the question, would (furloughs) impede our ability to provide safety to our community,” he said. “They both stated that … it could be done. If they would have had issues that they couldn’t live with, then we would have pressed on and tried to find other alternatives.”
Councilmen Perry Woodward and Craig Gartman voted against the preliminary contract.
“The issue of furloughs for public safety employees is really mind boggling,” Woodward said Thursday. “We’re already at minimum staffing levels and now we’re going to try to cut more time out of the workweek. The reality is that we already have too few police officers on the street. If it works, I’ll be amazed.”
Police officers will have to take one unpaid 10-hour day each month, though there is some flexibility in scheduling, Smithee said. The days will be given on request, much like vacation days, and officers will sacrifice these days at the end of the year if they are unused.
Turner did not return a phone call Thursday. The police department doors were locked Thursday and most city employees, including Turner – who belongs to the Gilroy Management Association – were scheduled to take their first furlough day. City furloughs are scheduled for the first and third Friday of every month, but because today is a legal holiday, the furlough day was pushed to Thursday.
Emergency dispatchers were besieged Thursday by calls with wide ranging requests, including many about the furloughs.
Even the mayor had problems as he tried to coordinate a meeting between a city employee and a local business owner. Pinheiro had to phone the police records department to get them to open the doors, which were closed because there was no one to man the front desk.
Firefighters will also take furlough days much as they take their vacation days, Foster said. Firefighters can sign up to miss a shift – each of which is 24 hours – using up a furlough day.
Yet, this could mean that there are not enough firefighters to cover shifts, Foster said.
“We’re going to see how that’s going to impact our overtime spending,” he said.
In recent years, a handful of firefighters have taken home upwards of $30,000 in overtime pay in one year. In 2006-07, the average overtime-eligible firefighter earned about $21,000 in overtime.
Woodward shared concerns of increased overtime.
“We’re going to end up paying more because we’re going to end up paying overtime,” he said. “It’s ludicrous.”
If overtime does start to accumulate and the expected savings are not realized, “we as a council can always revisit and lay people off,” Pinheiro said. “It’s all about trusting each other and working with each other to find solutions.”
In addition to taking furlough days, police will not get undetermined merit raises this year and four positions in the department will not be filled. Two officers, one corporal and one sergeant are scheduled to leave this year, according to the city.
Firefighters will similarly not get merit raises or previously negotiated 1.5 percent raises, which they were to receive this year and next year, according to the city press release. As part of the agreement, firefighters will now work two days on, four days off, Foster said. This is slightly different from their previous work configuration, but is the same number of hours per week.
Firefighters will also give up personal leave time, optional medical evaluations, a uniform allowance and fitness testing incentive pay, according to the city press release. In addition, the fire department will close Sunrise Station in north Gilroy for an unreleased number of days each month.
Agreements with Gilroy’s managers and other City Hall employees will save the city $1.6 million annually over the next two years. The unions avoided further layoffs through furloughs and raise postponements, and the savings brought next fiscal year’s deficit down to $3.1 million at the time, according to city figures.
DEALS WITH UNIONS
Gilroy Police Officers’ Association
– Represents $1.1 million in cuts
– Includes 12 furlough days, at 10 hours each
– Phases out corporal, sergeant and two officer positions
– Eliminates merit raises for this year
– Spares eight positions
Fire Local 2805
– Represents $500,000 in cuts
– Includes six 24-hour furlough days
– Eliminates merit raises for this year
– Eliminates 1.5 percent raises scheduled for this year and next year
– Spares six positions
– Includes occasional closing of Sunrise Fire Station
– Eliminates personal leave time, optional medical evaluations, uniform allowance and fitness testing incentive pay
Source: City of Gilroy
