VENTURA : Contract Talks With Police Union Stall

Contract negotiations between the Ventura police union and the city have broken down over a salary dispute, city and union officials said.

Cpl. William Dzuro, president of the Ventura Police Officers’ Assn., said talks stalled last week because the city has refused to offer any pay raises, but City Manager John Baker said he plans to arrange a meeting soon with union officials to discuss the impasse.

Dzuro said he did not anticipate that the situation will escalate into a strike. “We’ve always had a good relationship with the city,” said Dzuro, whose union represents about 115 of the department’s 121 officers. “I honestly don’t expect it to get that messy.”

Ventura police officers and their families packed council chambers Monday evening “to let (the council) know the membership is behind us,” Dzuro said. If city officials and the union fail to reach an agreement, the council will make the final decision on the city’s stance.

On average, Ventura police officers are paid about 4% less than their counterparts at the Simi Valley and Oxnard police departments and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, Dzuro said.

Union officials say the city has a healthy reserve fund that can easily pay for a salary increase. City officials, however, say money is tight and the $10.5-million reserve fund should not be used for anything but emergencies.

“It’s a sign of the times,” said Assistant City Manager Lorraine Brekke, who is on the city’s negotiating team. “In the past, we’ve always been able to offer something.”

Brekke said there is no formula for how much of a reserve the city should set aside for emergencies, but funding salary increases from reserves could set a bad precedent.

Other city employees who are not represented by unions traditionally receive a cost-of-living increase in July, Brekke said. Because of financial constraints, the 1991 raise was delayed six months, and city employees did not receive one this year, she said.

Negotiations on a new contract began more than a month ago, and union members have been working without a contract since last week, Dzuro said. In the last contract, officers received four raises of 2.5% each during a two-year period, Dzuro said.

According to Brekke, when the police union and the city last reached an impasse in 1983, the dispute was settled in mediation.