Council Fails to Resolve Deadlock on Police Pay Hike

In its latest case of bureaucratic woes, the city of El Monte announced Wednesday that it has reached an impasse on a deadlock.

What it means is despite the fact that police officers have not had a raise in eight years or a written contract in one year, and regardless of a protest by several officers at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, the city says it has no money for raises and that contract negotiations will remain in a stalemate.

“I really feel badly for them,” said Councilman Jack Thurston. “They are the lowest-paid police [officers] in the [San Gabriel] Valley. Personally, I think they should be the highest paid instead of the lowest paid.”

Police union representatives said council sympathy is a step in the right direction, but it is not nearly enough.

“We’re losing officers to other agencies,” said Richard Thomas, a spokesman for the El Monte Police Officers Assn. “We’ve lost four already and 14 more are testing to go to other agencies.”

Last year, the city began negotiating a two-year contract for police and other city employees, but the issue of salary slowed the process. Officers are entering their second year without a contract, said Matthew Weintraub, assistant city administrator.

“Our officers are working very hard,” Weintraub said. “And [the city] would be willing to pay well above the median if [it] had the ability to do so.”

El Monte, the ninth-largest city in Los Angeles County, also has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. Many businesses have fled the city or decided not to move there because of “the lack of disposable income” in El Monte, Weintraub said.

With fewer taxes coming in from commercial revenue, “the money just is not there” for raises, Weintraub said.

Instead, the council last year granted a 4% contribution to the officers’ deferred compensation accounts, tax-deferred income that officers cannot tap into until they retire, Weintraub said.