VERO BEACH — The City of Vero Beach has reached a stalemate in talks with its own police officers over salaries and benefits and will now go to formal arbitration.
At the crux of the dispute is $140,000 that the city could save by furloughing patrol officers one day per month and proposed increased costs for health benefits.
In March, when department heads began finalizing their budget requests for the upcoming year, the city notified the Coastal Police Benevolent Association that it wished to open up Article 24 of the PBA contract with the city and asked to begin negotiations.
The parties met and the union did not agree to the furloughs and increased health insurance costs.
On July 20, prior to the city’s budget workshops, the City Council tried to strike a balance between the need to trim the budget and the desire to maintain public safety and not reduce patrol coverage in the city.
Council members directed Chief Don Dappen to, if possible find the money elsewhere in the police budget to keep “beat cops” of the rank of Sergeant and lower off the furlough program that has included the rest of the city’s employees since October 2009.
Councilman Tom White made the suggestion that public safety was important enough to warrant funding the raises out of the city’s reserve and the vote came down 4-1 to do that, if necessary.
Three days later the city council had a “shade” meeting out of the public eye with no minutes taken. City Attorney Charles Vitunac said Tuesday that there was no vote taken at that meeting.
Council members denied any reversal of the position taken at the July 20 council meeting, but the PBA was notified of the city’s new, harder line on negotiations.
“On July 27, officers were told by the city’s bargaining unit that we had the option of taking furlough days or taking a 5 percent pay cut, along with increased health premiums,” said Cpl. Phil Huddy, who spoke Tuesday on behalf of the low-ranking police officers being affected.
“This happened to be the same offer the city had given to its police officers at the second bargaining meeting on June 21,” Huddy said, expressing confusion over the seeming reversal of the council’s direction.
Daige, while expressing his continued support for the rank-and-file officers, emphasized accountablility for the department’s $7 million budget. White, a retired law enforcement officer himself and one of only two council members not running for re-election, stuck to his guns advocating for the cops.
“I am a firm believer in the police department and I do not want to see less officers,” White said.
On Aug. 18, the city notified the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission that the city was declaring impasse. An arbitrator will be appointed to meditate the negotiations.
Though the City Council Tuesday approved furloughs for all city employees, Human Resources Director Robert Anderson said the furloughs would not take effect on Oct. 1 for police unless an agreement is ratified with the Coastal PBA.
It is unclear how much a lengthy arbitration proceeding would cost the city as compared to the potential savings if they prevail in getting what they want out of the police, but labor arbitrators in Florida advertise their services on the internet for $300 to $350 per hour.
