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Saturday, May 25, 2013
Proposed budget would cut 100 cops, 50 fire staff
by Kathleen Haley, published on April 28, 2011 at 5:39 PM
Storyline: City Budget
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Layoffs of about 100 police officers and nearly 50 Fire Department staffers are listed as possible budget cuts in the city’s proposed 2011/2012 budget, scheduled to be released Friday.
The city released a summary of the budget recommendations from Interim City Manager Bill Edgar and Interim Deputy City Manager Betty Masuoka late Thursday afternoon. The budget was largely put together by previous Interim City Manager Gus Vina, who resigned last month.
The city manager’s office recommends that police officer cuts should be made in the department’s special units. The summary said that 167 full-time employees would be cut in the police department. Of the 167 employees, 98 are sworn police officers, the summary says.
“This reduction will result in the loss of the special units in order to protect patrol (units) as much as possible,” the report said.
The proposed budget would also ramp up the number of Fire Department “brownouts” from two to six, and lay off 49 full-time Fire Department employees. However, the suggested cuts to the Fire Department were unclear at press time because the city has been selected to receive a federal $5.6 million grant earmarked for firefighters.
The city fire department has two rolling brownouts in effect, which means that certain fire trucks and engines are out of service at various times, according to former Fire Department spokesman Jim Doucette.
Parks and Recreation is slated for major cuts, as well. “All but three community centers will be closed, and all but three swimming pools will be closed starting the summer of 2012,” according to the budget summary. The budget recommendations also said that youth and senior programs will face “significant reductions.”
While the city manager’s office has released budget cut plans for the police, fire and parks departments, it’s unclear how many people will actually be laid off. The City Council is responsible for all final decisions on the budget, and the numbers of proposed layoffs often change during the city budget process. Union negotiations can change the numbers. When the city cuts positions, it uses a process of demoting employees that can also change the number of layoffs.
Read the summary of the proposed budget here.
The full proposed budget is expected to be released Friday. The Sacramento Press will cover the budget in depth on Friday.
Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.
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There is a quick link to the pdf on the city's home page, which I have copied here:
http://www.cityofsacramento.org/auditor/documents/audit_reports/Audit_of_Employee_Health_and_Pension_Benefits.pdf
With regards to pensions, check out sworn police, fire and exempt vs the rank and file along with the recommendations of bringing everyone into line with the same % contribution formula.
Currently the actual employee contribution to pensions for PD, Fire and Exempt management is 0.
With one exception other city employees contribute 4%.
However, to really "wrap your arms" around the bigger picture on pensions,look at page 33 exhibit 25 to see where some of that long term imbalance and imploding cost are occurring. I strongly urge you and everyone to read that audit report.
Quoting From that chart's summary:
"As seen above(referring to the chart, exhibit 25) the City contributed the equivalent of between about 14.2 and 31.6 percent of salaries towards CalPERS pensions. In 2009-10, the City paid $44.7 million for the employer contribution and about $16.7 million towards the employee contribution. Employees who contributed to the employee portion paid about $4.8 million towards their pensions. Based on CalPERS’ projections, and assuming that the City contributes to the employee share in the same way and that this percent remains the same, the City will contribute the equivalent of between 17.6 and 42.6 percent of salaries towards pensions in 2013-14. This is a troubling trend and one that if left unchecked, could significantly impact the City’s finances.
Requiring all employees to contribute to the employee share of their pensions would save the City millions over the next few years. Such a change would require negotiations with labor unions, as contribution rates are set in labor agreements. As noted above, some employees already contribute 4 percent of their salaries to the employee contribution. If all employees contributed 4 percent to their pensions, the City would save about $39.7 million over the next five years – or about $7.9 million on average per year. "
I am not a fan of reductions to our police force (and I misguidedly voted for KJ on the hope that he would do more to address crime than Heather). But at the same time as long as there are new recruits literally waiting in line to attend the academy and join the police force, it really does seem like there is a structural problem in how compensate our police force that is a big part of the problem. So yes, to an extent, the police union has brought some of this upon themselves.
http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/51130/Council_sets_new_hearing_on_parks_police_and_fire