Mayor: Waiting isn’t a solution

By David Skolnick

The patrol union president doubts the two sides will meet again as buyout talks get tangled in stalemate.

YOUNGSTOWN — The city administration is at a stalemate in negotiating an early-retirement buyout incentive with its patrol officers union, which could lead to layoffs at the police department.

The Youngstown Police Association union isn’t interested in discussing a proposed buyout offer, said Edward Colon, its president, unless the deal is similar to the one given to the department’s ranking officers union.

“I don’t think we’ll meet again,” he said.

If no progress is made very soon, the administration would be left with no alternative but to lay off patrol officers, Mayor Jay Williams said.

“Simply waiting and dragging this out isn’t a solution,” he said. “We don’t want to reduce the number of officers. We don’t want to lay off anyone, but this group needs to come to the table and continue to negotiate.”

The city would save money by eliminating higher-paid officers, Williams said. Because of the city’s financial situation, there is no guarantee that those leaving the force would be replaced.

The city cut $665,000 from the police department’s payroll budget this year. That is equivalent to 22 to 26 officers’ losing their jobs.

Colon said the city has enough grant money coming in the next few months that there is no reason to lay off any officers this year. Williams said he strongly disagrees with that.

The patrol union’s contract with the city expires Nov. 30. The two sides normally start negotiating three months before a contract expires.

Rather than going back and forth on this buyout, Colon said the union and city should start contract negotiations earlier than usual and include the issues related to the buyout in those discussions.

“By then, it might be too late to do anything” to avoid layoffs, said city Law Director Iris Torres Guglucello. “I’m not opposed to negotiating early, but the last negotiations with the union took over a year. Also, we’re negotiating contracts with other unions.”

The patrol union rejected the buyout May 21 because it included two key provisions unfavorable to the membership, Colon said.

One was the reduction in entry-level annual pay. The city made two proposals — one would reduce entry-level pay from about $38,000 to $24,000 in one and to $27,000 in another.

The other issue is it would take 10 years rather than the current five years to reach the top of the pay scale in both proposals, about $52,500 a year.

The city is willing to renegotiate a higher entry-level salary as part of the buyout, Guglucello said.

The administration proposal wouldn’t impact any of the 115 patrol officers currently on the force, Williams and Guglucello said.

The buyout would give each participant a year’s base pay paid evenly over five years.

The city struck a deal for the buyout with the department’s ranking officers union, which represents 64 officers including detective sergeants, sergeants, lieutenants and captains. As part of that deal, the ranking officers union can be reduced to 50 members.

Fewer than 10 ranking officers are expected to take the buyout.

That would mean the rest of the cuts needed to balance the police department’s budget would come from the patrol officers, Williams said.

skolnick@vindy.com