Oxnard OKs Performance-Based Pay for Police and 12% Raise Over 3 Years

Capping more than a year of negotiations, the City Council approved an agreement with police Tuesday that calls for 12% raises over three years and a shift toward basing pay increases on performance.

City officials said the Oxnard Police Officers’ Assn. had asked for more money--an 18% increase over three years compared to the city’s proposal of 7.5%. But despite some haggling over dollar figures, both sides say discussions grew most heated over the performance-based pay system set to take effect in 1997.

The merit pay plan is apparently the first of its kind for a law enforcement agency in Ventura County.

Although the new system guarantees all officers a 2.5% wage hike in 1997, police still wonder how management will decide whom to reward with an added 1.5% performance-based raise.

“I don’t know that it is impossible, but I suspect that it is going to be very difficult because of the profession involved,” said Sgt. Gene Thayer, a police union member.

Officers say police work cannot be judged by quantity, such as the number of arrests or tickets issued by a patrolman. But they worry that more subjective measures might create morale problems in the ranks.

A committee made up of management and union representatives is set to work out the details in the next few months. Harold Hurtt, Oxnard’s police chief, said management would not use quotas such as the number of criminals jailed or speeders cited to compensate officers.

And Bruce Dandy, Oxnard’s employee relations manager, said the committee will look at giving these pay increases to either individuals or teams of employees doing good work.

“It is part of the pay philosophy of our city,” Dandy said. “We feel that we need to recognize those individuals who are outstanding. Those who are just getting along--while they get basic wages and benefits--should not be rewarded.”

Dandy said that about 270 Oxnard employees--including librarians, clerical workers and civil engineers--now work under a pay system that rewards employees for quality work. He said the city plans to phase the system into more departments.

But Rafael F. Nieves, a police union board member who helped negotiate the agreement, is concerned the performance pay system might dampen morale in the Police Department if only individual employees are rewarded.

“It is an unknown,” Nieves said. “Pay per performance is fine as long as there is an equitable distribution and as long as it relates to a team effort. When you start rewarding individuals, it takes away from the team effort.”

Nevertheless, Nieves said union members, who have worked without a contract since May 1995, were satisfied with the new agreement.

And city officials said the pay raises serve to thank Oxnard’s police for the city’s declining crime rate overall. The city reported 50.2 crimes per 1,000 residents in 1995, down from a rate of 69.3 in 1994.

Under the agreement the police union has already ratified, about 170 police officers are set to receive a 5% pay hike retroactive to March 6, 1995. In 1996, the increase will amount to 3% until the new pay per performance system kicks in the following year. The contract covers some civilian employees, including dispatchers, but not the department’s top brass.

“If the final agreement wasn’t something we were comfortable with, we would have never agreed to it,” Nieves said. “I had hoped that we would have done better. But then again, our purpose has never been to bankrupt the city.”

The new agreement is expected to cost the city about $1.7 million over three years. The maximum salary for a typical Oxnard police officer amounts to about $45,000 a year.

The agreement Oxnard’s City Council approved Tuesday also prohibits all sworn officers from smoking on the job or on breaks. Under the contract, employees caught smoking could face disciplinary action.

But both city officials and police said the cigarette ban has sparked few complaints.

“I haven’t heard a word,” said Thayer, a 29-year veteran of the force. “There are hardly any smokers left here. I am one of the ex-smokers.”