City, police union to argue case before city council

The stage is set for a final confrontation between the city and its police union.

After months of stalled negotiations and back and forth accusations about unfair labor practices, city officials and representatives of the Tampa Police Benevolent Association go before the city council on Wednesday to hammer out details of a new contract.

Each side will be given 30 minutes to present arguments for and against 10 contested provisions of the contract, including step increases, holiday pay and annual leave.

After that, council members will vote on each of the provisions.

Police officers, who have been pushing for step increases and other concessions from the city, are expected to pack council chambers for the 1:30 p.m. public hearing.

Union officials have been at an impasse with the city since July, when Mayor Pam Iorio requested a special magistrate to settle the dispute, which was mostly over pay.

Iorio imposed a wage freeze and provided no funding for pay raises in the fiscal 2010 budget to fill a $51 million shortfall. She said granting raises and other concessions for the police department alone would cost the city's taxpayers more than $4.8 million.

If that happens, Iorio has warned, it would mean widespread layoffs and service cuts.

Union officials say the city's figures are inflated and argue that the administration can afford to pay its officers step increases - which are awarded to officers as they rise through the ranks to seniority - by tapping into an $82 million reserve fund.

The union said step increases for the roughly 500 officers who are eligible would only cost the city $772,000 a year. City officials estimate it cost more than $1.7 million.

Magistrate John McCollister recently recommended the city suspend the step increases for one year, but bring them back next fiscal year barring "an unanticipated catastrophe."

"In a time when economic conditions continue to decline from bad to worse, (police) cannot in good conscience demand automatic raises," McCollister wrote in his 23-page nonbinding ruling. "At the same time, the city cannot take for granted that it will continue to enjoy the benefit of a superior police force without offering fair compensation."

McCollister also urged city council to reject the union's request for an additional floating holiday for each police officer and to increase the number of annual leave days, but backed the union's request to increase annual sick leave from 45.7 to 80 hours.

Police officers have been without a contract since Oct. 1, the beginning of the fiscal year.

Council is allowed under state labor laws to take the magistrate's recommendations under consideration when it votes on the contractual issues.

Iorio is also at an impasse in negotiations with the city's firefighter union. That contract dispute went to a magistrate in October. A ruling is not expected until early next year.