Politics & Government

Council Meeting: Budget Praised, Police Funding Touchy

The City Council praised the proposed 2011-12 budget for sparing cuts, while the City Manager offered explanations for large police and fire pay hikes and for continued police and fire vacancies that were supposed to have been filled by a sales tax hike.

El Cerrito's proposed city budget for this coming fiscal year won praise from the City Council Monday night for preserving existing services, and the City Manager offered assurances that continued police and fire vacancies do not represent a broken city promise regarding voter-approved Measure R, which increased the city's sales tax.

City Manager Scott Hanin also addressed why the vast bulk of increased spending would go toward a 7-9 percent pay hike and increased benefits for police and fire personnel, saying the expenditures are obligated by labor contracts and state mandates.

The Council is expected to vote June 20 on adopting the staff-prepared budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Find out what's happening in El Cerritowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In the public comment session during the 2-1/2 hour budget discussion, former Mayor Ken Berndt criticized the budget's inclusion of continued unfilled positions in the police and fire departments as a violation of city promises made last year during the election debates over Measure R, the half-cent sales tax hike passed by city voters in November.

The proposed budget says, "Both police and fire departments are projected to have vacancies (2-5) at the end of FY 11-12."

Find out what's happening in El Cerritowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Berndt cited, for example, an opinion column written for Patch last year by then Mayor Janet Abelson, chair of the Yes on R campaign, asking voter support for Measure R for "filling of firefighter and police vacancies." Other city officials and city brochures during the election campaign cited the unfilled vacancies and said Measure R would be used the bring police and fire staffing up to "full strength."

Berndt, a leader of the No on R campaign last year, also singled out the 7-9 percent pay boosts for police and fire, negotiated through union contracts with the city. "There are a lot of people in this city who are making less, much less, than (those) you're giving raises to," he said.

City employees who don't belong to a union would receive a 2 percent pay boost in the new budget.

On the vacancies, Hanin said, "This is not directly related to Measure R." He said six officers are planning to retire in the coming fiscal year and that replacing them all will tax the city's ability just to maintain the present level of staffing.

"It's not a matter of not meeting Measure R but just recruiting as fast as we can," he said.

He also said a return to full staffing was clouded by uncertainty of continued school district funding for three El Cerrito police officers who are currently assigned as School Resource Officers at El Cerrito High School and Portola Middle School.On pay increases, Hanin said public safety employees last year agreed to defer half of their contract-promised pay hike to help the city save money in the current budget.

City Councilmember Greg Lyman said the continued vacancies do not reflect "a lack of commitment" to fulfilling Measure R promises. "It's just physically daunting to hire that many officers in a single year," he said.

Lyman also said that the police and fire unions' willingness to defer pay increases last year made balancing last year's budget possible.

Assistant City Manager Karen Pinkos told Patch in an email, "Listing the current and projected vacancies in the budget document should in no way imply that the City is not seeking to fill those vacancies contrary to what was promised with Measure R."

She also said Measure R was intended to meet many city needs. Voters passed the measure, she said, to provide funds "to protect and maintain City services, including fire prevention and emergency services; neighborhood police patrols, emergency response times, crime prevention and investigation resources; firefighter and police staffing; earthquake preparedness; afterschool programs for children and teens; senior services; parks; and other general City services."

The measure, which took effect April 1, raised El Cerrito's sales tax a half cent to 10.25 percent, now tied with that of Union City for highest in the state outside of Los Angeles County.

Thanks to Measure R, the city is able to maintain its current level of services in the next fiscal year, according the new budget document.

Councilmember Rebecca Benassini said in her comments during the meeting that El Cerrito's achievement stands in striking contrast to the experience of several nearby cities.

"Unlike many of the cities I looked at surrounding us, including Antioch, Pinole, Hercules, Alameda, Walnut Creek and Livermore, all of whom have experienced layoffs in the last two years, we are maintaining our services and we're also working toward maintaining our contractual obligations with our bargaining unit," she said.

"These are all things I think we can be really proud of."

In her concluding remarks, Mayor Ann Cheng echoed the sentiments expressed by staff and other Councilmembers that continued uncertainty over state budgetary action makes the city's financial planning difficult, and she added her voice to those who praised the approach taken in the proposed budget.

"We have clearly demonstrated that we're doing all the due diligence that we can to make the best use of the funds that we have," she said.

On a related topic, City Councilmember Bill Jones made an extended plea for changing El Cerrito from a general-law city to a charter city, a move that he said would protect the city from undue state control of municipal affairs. He called for the upcoming budget to include a series of public meetings and other steps to prepare a ballot measure for next year.

Benassini said she would like to learn more about the possibility, while Cheng expressed concern that devotion of resources to the proposal would rob more pressing needs of attention and funding in the next fiscal year.

In closing his presentation, Hanin singled out two awards given to the city for its work on the budget. One was a repeat honor given more than once to the city from the California Society for Municipal Finance Officers, while the other one — the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award — was a first-time recognition from the Government Finance Officers Association.

Hanin then offered special thanks to City Treasurer Mary Dodge and Assistant City Manager Karen Pinkos for their work on the city spending plan.

An earlier Patch article on the proposed 2011-12 budget can be found .


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