Article published May 01, 2009
Judge temporarily halts layoff of police command officers
Police Chief Mike Navarre said the city would be able to keep its gang task force and SWAT teams intact and keep more detectives from being shifted to regular street patrol.
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THE BLADE/LISA DUTTON
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BLADE STAFF
A Lucas County Common Pleas Court judge issued a temporary restraining order Friday morning to stop the city of Toledo from laying off 20 police command officers.
Judge Frederick McDonald sided with the Toledo Police Command Officers' Association, which sought an injunction to delay layoffs until the matter could go to arbitration. The layoffs were to occur at the end of the day Friday.
In his ruling, Judge McDonald said the city lacked proof of "exigent" financial circumstances that would justify laying off more than five or six command officers - the "10 percent reduction" specifically allowed to the city in its contract with the command officers' association.
Arbitration over the dispute is scheduled for May 14, the ruling states.
The story as it appeared in earlier editions of The Blade and toledoblade.com:Mayor: Layoffs reduced to 75 officers; decision relies on fee, tax increases
By IGNAZIO MESSINA
BLADE STAFF WRITER
The number of Toledo police officers who will be laid off today to help address the city's massive budget crisis will be cut in half to 75, Mayor Carty Finkbeiner will announce this morning.
"It will be 75. I wish it didn't have to be one, but we have a budget hole that needs to be filled," the mayor told The Blade last night.
Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner
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THE BLADE
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Mr. Finkbeiner's strategy to balance Toledo's staggering $21.3 million deficit - while at the same time reducing the police layoffs from the previously announced 150 officers - includes several assumptions and depends on Toledo City Council agreeing to reach into some Toledoans' pockets.
Mr. Finkbeiner said council must approve a bump in the city's refuse fee and his plan to collect more income taxes from Toledoans who work outside the city - something council already has rejected twice.
Police Chief Mike Navarre said the city would be able to keep its gang task force and SWAT teams intact and keep more detectives from being shifted to regular street patrol."I have been working on a plan for 150 for the past two weeks, so cut that in half, I am certainly relieved," Chief Navarre said. "Seventy-five is a big number - there is no question about that. It's going to require a lot of the restructuring that was required to deal with the 150 number, but to a lesser degree."
Mr. Finkbeiner challenged the 12 council members "to be leaders" and not "duck and dodge from tough decisions."
Meanwhile, a majority of coun-cilmen have indicated over several weeks that they would not vote for any "revenue enhancements" like the tax credit or trash fee until the mayor's staff reached an agreement with the patrolmen's union.
Mr. Finkbeiner yesterday threw the onus back on council and said it would be up to it to prevent the other 75 officers, or even more, from being laid off.
The city would have to lay off an additional 125 officers by today to save $4.8 million that could be collected from the tax credit decrease and an increase to the trash fee, Chief Navarre said.
As time passes without that revenue, the number of police officers who would have to be cut increases.
"Council has run out of time," said Robert Reinbolt, the mayor's chief of staff. "It's not like we can go cut someplace else because we have cut everywhere we can."
The mayor said the city's budget could be balanced with:
•$2.98 million in savings from laying off 75 police officers.
•$2 million in savings from laying off 70 civilian employees paid through the city's general fund.
•$3 million from still-sought concessions from all city unions, including police and fire.
•$1.4 million from the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which the city received permission to apply toward police salaries.
•$3.2 million from reducing the income tax credit for Toledoans who work outside the city.
•$1.6 million from an increase in the Toledo refuse fee from $7 to $10 for people who do not recycle and from $2 to $7 for those who do.
•$100,000 grant for the city's Police Athletic League.
•$834,000 in savings from switching city employees to a 32-hour workweek.
•$250,000 in cutbacks from Toledo Municipal Court and Clerk of Courts office.
•Between $2.2 million and $3.7 million anticipated from the federal "Cops Hiring Grant," which would be this year's share of a $34 million request.
•$3.9 million of capital improvement money that voters on Sept. 15 could redirect to the city's general fund if they decide to change the allocation of Toledo's 0.75 income tax.
•$500,000 from billing homeowners' fire insurance policies for service calls. Council rejected the billing plan Tuesday.
Under the plan to lay off 150 officers, the community services unit would have been reduced from 12 to 3; investigative services would have lost a sergeant to layoff and 21 detectives, and two sergeants would have been reassigned to street duty.
Chief Navarre said those units would not be as affected with 75 layoffs. The department's mounted patrol and school resource officers still would be eliminated, he said. The city's negotiations with its police patrolmen's union broke down this week.
Mayor Finkbeiner last night contested comments made by Toledo Police Patrolman's Association President Dan Wagner. Mr. Finkbeiner accused the union president of misleading the public and said the two sides never had a tentative agreement - as was announced Wednesday by Mr. Wagner.
"I don't like commenting on this, but it is necessary because Mr. Wagner deliberately misled the media and public to believe an agreement had been reached by the city and the TPPA," the mayor said.
Mayor Finkbeiner on Wednesday rejected an offer on a new contract that Mr. Wagner said was agreed upon late Tuesday by himself and Mr. Reinbolt.
"The TPPA offered to roll back the city's paying of the employees' share of their pension contribution for 12 months in exchange for the city's promise there would be no police layoffs this summer," the mayor said. "In addition, the city would give an extra five weeks off with pay to each TPPA member during the next 12 months."
That was not enough and not "a fair exchange, and it doesn't come close to balancing the city's $21 million budget deficit," he said.
Mr. Wagner told The Blade Wednesday night he was surprised to receive a phone call from Chief Navarre informing him there was no deal since he and Mr. Reinbolt had reached a "gentlemen's agreement" sealed with a handshake less than 24 hours earlier.
During negotiations with the police union, the mayor sought a one-year, 10 percent pay cut, an end to paying the employees' 10 percent contribution for their share to the police pension fund, and a contribution to the city's health-care costs.
The employee's share of the pension is on top of the employer's contribution of 19.5 percent.
Mr. Wagner said the union would not agree to any more negotiating sessions and instead would wait for a second fact-finding meeting scheduled for May 28.
The police union and the administration have been negotiating off and on since October, but a breakthrough occurred last Friday after a mutually selected fact-finder told both sides how he saw the situation.
The city is also negotiating with the Toledo Police Command Officers Association; Local 92 Firefighters; AFSCME Local 2058 Supervisors, and Local 7 Communication Operators.
Contact Ignazio Messina at:
imessina@theblade.com
or 419-724-6171.
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