Oakland scrambles to avoid police layoffs

Oakland officials, union meet today in bid to avoid 80 layoffs

Photo of Matthai Kuruvila

Oakland officials will meet with police union leaders this morning in a final attempt to iron out pension concessions that would avoid the layoffs of 80 of the city's 776 police officers by day's end.

Many of the officers whose layoffs are scheduled to become effective tonight stood only days ago on the front lines of the riot in Oakland that followed the Johannes Mehserle verdict - pelted by rocks and bottles thrown by protesters, according to Police Chief Anthony Batts.

But the city, reeling from declining revenues, contends it can no longer afford the 776 police positions, each of which costs an average of $188,000 a year, including salary and benefits.

The planned layoffs would eliminate units of the Police Department that focus on community policing, parolees and dangerous criminals, among other things.

To avoid the layoffs, city leaders want officers to pay the same 9 percent of their salaries into their pensions as every other city union worker does. But talks broke off Friday when the union said it would agree to the concessions only if they were offset by improved job security, with a three-year moratorium on layoffs.

Oakland officials said a ban on layoffs is not possible.

Nonetheless, both sides agreed to come together today for a final attempt at negotiating an agreement, City Council President Jane Brunner said Sunday.

Oakland has been slashing nearly every part of its budget except public safety. Police and fire costs now account for about 75 percent of the general fund budget, compared to 61 percent just five years ago.

But the police union sees its officers as indispensable in a city with the highest violent crime rate in California - a figure underscored by the slayings of four police officers in March 2009.

However, in an economy that has continued to slide for cities around the state, Oakland officials believe that tougher times lie ahead. The city's $407 million general fund budget represents a revenue decline of $69 million in just five years.

Preparing for worst

Bracing for the layoffs, police on Saturday began implementing their new structure, which emphasizes officers in patrol cars at the expense of fewer specialized units.

Most of the 17 to 20 officers who are on foot patrols in various neighborhoods will be transferred or laid off. Three of the foot-patrol officers will be kept on duty, though paid for by private groups. One of the foot-patrol officers will be in densely populated Chinatown, but it wasn't clear where the others would be placed, said Officer Jeff Thomason, a department spokesman.

People making 911 calls about certain non-life-threatening situations - such as vandalism or thefts - would be directed to an online system for filing a police report.

The path to keeping Oakland's staffing at its current 776 officers is delicate.

If officers agree to concessions, that would save the city about $7.8 million - and stave off layoffs until January.

In November, voters are expected to decide two ballot measures that would affect police staffing, though the exact wording of each has not yet been decided.

One would suspend for three years a mandate from a 2004 parcel tax that requires the Police Department to budget for at least 739 officers or lose the $20 million a year the measure brings in. If voters approve the suspension, the city would be able to collect that money. Today's planned layoffs would lower the number of officers to 696.

But even if that November measure passes, the city would still have to lay off an additional 27 officers on Jan. 1.

The council is also considering a parcel tax that would cost each single-family homeowner about $360 a year and bring in about $50 million. If passed, the tax would allow the city to rehire the laid-off officers.

But if the parcel tax and the minimum staffing measures both fail, the city would not only be unable to hire back the officers but would have to lay off an additional 122 officers by Jan. 1.

Just first step

The struggle over police officer pensions is only the first step in what Brunner and Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente have described as a longer process in reining in worker costs.

De La Fuente, a longtime union leader and organizer, has said the lowering of costs is not a reflection of employee worth, but rather recognition of the realities of municipal finance.

Oakland police officers have pointed out that they're not the only city department with unusual perks.

Firefighters pay into their pensions, but got a raise to account for that, said Sgt. Dom Arotzarena, the Oakland Police Officers Association president. In addition, they have a no-layoff clause.

Without specifying what concessions she will seek from firefighters, Brunner said the city would go to them next if police agree to the pension changes.

"If we get an agreement with police, we will definitely go to fire," Brunner said. "That's been our agreement all along."

Chronicle staff writer John Wildermuth contributed to this report.