Police contract clears hurdle

The fate of Mayor Jim Suttle’s proposed 2011 budget is based on one big assumption that he’ll be able to finalize new contracts with Omaha’s police and fire unions.

Suttle scored a victory on that front Thursday, when the City Personnel Board signed off on his proposed police contract. But the mayor will probably have a tougher time persuading the City Council to follow suit when it takes up the deal next month.

And he’s still in negotiations with the firefighters union on its new labor agreement. Suttle said negotiations with the fire union have been difficult. On seven occasions, the mayor said, fire union officials have come close to calling off talks but ended up staying at the table.

“We were able to work through a lot of things,” Suttle said in a recent interview.

Steve LeClair, president of the fire union, could not be reached for comment.

The police contract is far from a done deal, either. The mayor has scheduled two community forums next week in hopes of convincing a skeptical public that the contract is a good deal for taxpayers.

One of those taxpayers, Paul Meyer of Omaha, told the Personnel Board on Thursday that he’s “tax-weary” and “tired of being held hostage by the police union and the fire (union) members.”

Nonetheless, the board voted 3-1 to approve the contract. Board members Jane Alseth, Janet K. Place and Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado voted in favor, while Timothy Hoffman voted against the contract.

Now Suttle has work to do convincing City Council members that they also should support the police contract.

Councilman Pete Festersen said the revised police contract doesn’t go far enough to address concerns that council members raised before rejecting an earlier contract proposal in April.

“The new agreement is still unacceptable,” he said. “It’s too expensive.”

Festersen said the city is being asked to contribute too much to the police and fire pension fund, and police officers aren’t contributing enough.

But if the council rejects the police contract, Officer Aaron Hanson said Thursday, the union would probably take the city to state or federal court.

Hanson, the police union president, and Suttle said the city is legally obligated to address a long-term shortfall in the police and fire pension fund that’s estimated at $500 million. If the council rejects the contract, a judge could order the city to pay even more into the fund than under the current contract proposal, Suttle said.

The city’s pension contributions would grow 13 percent next year under the latest proposed deal. That would make the city’s total pension contribution about 33 percent of police payroll.

The longer the higher contributions are put off, Suttle and Hanson said, the larger the shortfall will become.

“This pension is either going to be fixed by negotiations, or it’s going to be fixed by litigation,” Hanson said. “In the meantime, the liability continues to grow, and it will continue to fall on taxpayers.”

One thing is for certain: If the police and fire contracts aren’t finalized, next year’s budget plan will require an overhaul.

Suttle has proposed a 4 percent tax on restaurant food and bar tabs, with part of the revenue going to pay the city’s additional 13 percent contribution into the pension fund.

His budget also sets aside $7million for wage increases next year for police and firefighters. Both unions agreed to wage freezes for 2009 and 2010 to help save money in a difficult economy.

Suttle said that if the police contract is rejected by the council and the union sues the city, the state labor court could order the city to spend even more on raises.

The proposed budget also assumes that the Fire Department will trim spending by $5.5 million, possibly through fire contract changes.

Those savings could come in the form of higher health care premiums and staffing changes, which could include taking fire units out of service, said City Finance Director Pam Spaccarotella.

City Councilman Thomas Mulligan said the mayor was “prudent” to factor the police and fire contracts into his 2011 budget plan. “We might as well take a realistic look at what we might be faced with,” Mulligan said.

Festersen said the council will have to decide the fate of the police contract before it can realistically offer alternatives to Suttle’s budget.

Some council members, including Festersen and Mulligan, have been looking for spending cuts as an alternative to the tax increases outlined in Suttle’s budget plan. In addition to the dining tax, the mayor also has proposed increases in the wheel tax and property tax rate.

“It will be very difficult to form any alternatives to the budget until the fate of the police contract is determined,” Festersen said. “They’re just so interrelated.”

To pass, the police contract will require four yes votes from the council. The council could vote on the contract as soon as Aug. 17. The council is scheduled to vote on the budget Aug. 24.

Council President Garry Gernandt and Councilman Ben Gray have said they’ll support the new police contract. Mulligan said he was undecided.

Councilwoman Jean Stothert declined Thursday to say how she will vote, though she has criticized several aspects of the deal.