WESTMINSTER : City May Impose Contract on Police

The City Council today will consider imposing a one-year contract on the Westminster Police Officers Assn. that would make local police salaries the sixth highest in Orange County. The contract would be retroactive to July 9, with the raise effective in January.

The council would impose the contract on the 154-member union because city and union representatives have failed to reach an agreement despite 30 meetings since October. The union, which has been working without a contract since December, has turned down three offers.

The city calls the current contract offer, which will go before the council today, its best and final proposal. Union officials, however, said it actually provides fewer benefits than a previous offer that the union had rejected.

“There’s some questions about the legality of imposing something that was less than what was offered before,” said Terry Selinske, a member of the union’s negotiating team.

Finance Director Brian Mayhew said the city’s 1994-95 $25.5-million general-fund budget has provided for a 3 1/2% salary increase for police officers, costing about $250,000. But the increase could go as high as 6% under the contract, which guarantees that Westminster officers will be the sixth-highest-paid in the county.

Many county cities are currently negotiating with their police unions, according to Selinske. The pay raise would put Westminster police, who are making from $3,000 to $4,000 a month, behind Fullerton and ahead of Costa Mesa in pay scale.

“The contract they’re offering is not all bad,” Selinske said. “But we’re concerned with the impact in medical (benefits), computation of overtime and sick time cash-outs.”

He said city and union negotiators deadlocked on those areas because the city wanted to enact limits that were not acceptable to union members.

City officials have sought to control medical costs, overtime expenses and the amount of unused sick leave that could be converted to cash. They said those expenses were causing severe financial problems for the city.

In addition to its labor dispute with the police, the city is also negotiating with firefighters and other municipal employees.

Under the proposed police contract, dispatchers and other non-sworn employees would receive a night pay differential. Department employees also would get Presidents Day as an additional paid holiday and one day of additional accrued vacation after 25 years of service.

Employees could convert 240 hours of unused sick leave to cash, and the remaining hours at 50% of the value. Unused sick leave accumulated over the years could also be applied to early retirement.

The union has agreed to a 32-hour annual non-paid furlough that could save the city more than $100,000, according to Mayhew, who headed the city’s negotiating team.

Mayhew said that the pay increase and benefit package are estimated at $971,000, but the city could end up spending just $521,000 because of savings in other areas.