A mediator will hear both sides next month. Main sticking point: a 3 percent COLA each year for three years.
By MAUREEN BYRNE AHERN
Published December 7, 2003
ST. PETE BEACH - Both sides say they gave it their best shot, but contract negotiations between the police union and the city are at an impasse.
Therefore, a special master from the Public Employees Relations Commission in Tallahassee will visit the city to work on a compromise.
The city and the union will make their cases to the special master during a hearing in January.
The union also would like a federal mediator to hear the case.
If both sides still don't reach an agreement, the City Commission would end up ruling on the issue during a public meeting.
Negotiations began in May. The union and the city have been without a new labor agreement since the old one expired Sept. 30.
As with most contract negotiations, wages are the main stumbling block. The union wants more money; the city says it can't afford to pay more.
The union, which represents 27 sworn officers and six dispatchers, wants a 3 percent cost-of-living allowance each year for three years. The city's offer is a 1 percent wage increase for the first year and an increase according to the consumer price index for each of the following two years.
In a letter dated Nov. 13, City Manager Mike Bonfield made a final offer to Tim Ingold, president of Pinellas Lodge 43 for the Fraternal Order of Police, which represents the officers in St. Pete Beach, except the chief and captain.
He presented three alternatives.
"As we have discussed throughout our negotiations, our current economic conditions require the city to take a very minimalist approach to offering raises to all employees," wrote Bonfield, adding that the "city must provide an additional $150,000 this year to keep the police pension fund actuarially sound."
Ingold wrote Bonfield on Nov. 20, declaring that the union had rejected all three offers:
"Your final alternative offers ignore most if not all of the work we have completed for the sake of imposing either a 1 percent general wage increase, lump sum payment and/or various take-aways, and to say that I am extremely disappointed by the negotiations this year would be an understatement."
Ingold wrote that the officers were willing to suspend other requests, such as taking home patrol cars and requiring higher pay for unpopular shifts, in order to reach an agreement.
Earlier this year, the city didn't plan to give raises to any city employees for the first year of their contracts, but later revised its offers after preliminary budget figures fared better than expected.
The city still must take $180,000 from reserves to meet its payroll budget for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.
The city and the International Association of Fire Fighters agreed to a 3 percent cost-of-living allowance for the first year and an increase according to the consumer price index for each of the following two years.
The city also signed a three-year deal with its civilian labor union, the Communications Workers of America, giving its employees a 2 percent wage increase and an increase according to the consumer price index for each of the next two years.
City officials say they gave those unions higher cost-of-living increases for the first year to keep salaries competitive with neighboring agencies.
When St. Pete Beach and the police union hammered out a contract three years ago, the city boosted its officers' salaries to bring them in line with other agencies.
The result: The department became the highest-paid force among area police agencies, with some officers' salaries increasing between 20 and 30 percent over three years.
Yet since 2000, other area police departments have negotiated new contracts and St. Pete Beach's ranking has slipped, Ingold said.
"(Bonfield's) 1 percent proposal is an insult to the police officers," Ingold said Friday.
City officials say that even without any raises, the starting salary for a St. Pete Beach officer - $34,039 - is still above average. And some police officers will receive automatic pay hikes, called "step" raises, in addition to annual cost-of-living increases.
