Boardman police blind to township’s fiscal collapse

In a matter of weeks, Boardman Township government will know the extent of its financial collapse, and at that point the labor contract demands being made by the police won’t matter a bit. Indeed, if the township is declared by Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor to be in fiscal watch, that will be a signal to the trustees that major operational changes must be made to avoid state-mandated fiscal emergency. Such a declaration would put Boardman government’s finances in the hands of a state fiscal oversight commission. Then, all bets are off. Just ask Girard Mayor James Melfi and members of city council. In fact, Boardman’s officers may want to meet with their counterparts in Girard to find out what happens to a police department in a community that doesn’t have control of its own money.

Why single out Boardman police? Because the patrolmen have rejected a fact-finder’s report that sought to reduce the operational costs of the department.

Fact-finder Dennis M. Byrne of Akron recommended a two-tier wage system, which set the starting pay between $14.90 an hour and $15.55 an hour for officers hired after Jan. 1. In the contract that expired last December, the starting wage was between $22.01 and $22.66, depending on the shift.

Byrne also recommended that a $30.30 an hour rate be paid to an officer after 25 years’ service. In the expired contract, an officer with at least five years earns between $28.23 an hour and $28.88 an hour. At the 10-year point of service, and in five-year increments up to 25 years, an officer earns an additional 1 percent pay for each step.

And, Byrne made changes to the accumulated vacation time schedule.

Why such drastic action? Because the fact-finder looked at the facts about the township’s financial condition and concluded the status quo is not sustainable.

How bad are things? Administrator Jason Loree contends that while government has spent $400,000 of the money it borrowed a couple of months ago to pay for operations, that figure will climb to $900,000 in the not too distant future. The loan was secured against the township’s restricted funds — those designated for specific purposes. The loan, of course, will have to be repaid. But that isn’t the only financial obligation confronting the township. Last January, it borrowed $3 million to get through the first quarter of 2009.

New experience

Never before has Boardman been in a position of not having the money to keep government operating.

The township’s firefighters, who were asked to return to the bargaining table Wednesday, have already taken concessions.

In May 2008, the union passed a contract addendum calling for a two-year pay freeze and increasing the members’ health-care contribution.

The change continues firefighters’ 2008 salary through March 2011 when the revised pact expires. The original pact called for a 2.5 percent increase in 2009 and expiration in March 2010. The addendum eliminates the 2.5 percent increase for 2009 and adds another year, also with no pay increase.

The annual salary ranges from $35,818 for an entry-level firefighter to $68,595 for assistant chiefs.

The decision by the Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association — it was a 30-0 vote — to reject the fact-finder’s report sticks out like a sore thumb. The contract dispute between the patrolmen and the trustees will now go to binding arbitration. And, if the past is prologue, as least when it comes to the Mahoning Valley, some individual with no sense of the economic realities of this region will give the police what they want.

Therefore, the only hope is that the state auditor will come back with a hard-hitting report of the condition of the township’s finances that puts everyone on notice: If you don’t change the way you have been doing business, fiscal emergency will be the next step.