Police approve contract

City Council set to vote on pay raises

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By a margin of 10 votes, the 77 officers of the Long Beach Police Department approved a contract on April 7 that the City Council will vote on at next Tuesday's meeting. While some characterize the contract's pay raises as a fair deal, others question the force's need for so many officers, longevity and overtime pay and other details of the agreement.

The two-year, retroactive contract would actually expire on June 30, since the LBPD has worked without a contract since June 2008. It includes a 3.5 percent salary increase for the year ending June 30, 2009, and a 3.25 percent increase for the current year. The increases would be paid in one lump sum. If the contract is approved, another will have to be negotiated in the coming months.

"As a product of the economic environment, there weren't any significant provisions," said Michael Bulik, president of the Long Beach Patrolmen's Benevolent Association and an LBPD detective. "We believe it's a fair and responsible agreement to both sides and the taxpayer."

The contract also included longevity bonuses that depend on an officer's years on the force. Those with at least six years of service will be paid $1,500 per year for each of the contract's two years, up from $1,300; those with 10 years or more, $3,000 per year; and those with at least 15 years, $4,500 per year. Thereafter, an additional $500 will be paid for each year up to 35 years of service — a total of $14,500 per year of the two year contract for the most senior officers.

"We did achieve some meaningful managerial concessions in the agreement," said City Manager Charles Theofan, noting, as one example, that police officers must reach a $500 threshold on copayments for medical expenses before the city reimburses them.

Contract negotiations between the city and the PBA stalled in December when union members, by five votes, rejected a similar proposal that got a thumbs-up from PBA leadership. The five-year deal proposed salary increases ranging from 3.5 to 3.85 percent and givebacks on retroactive pay raises equal to three-quarters of the value of future raises.

Union leaders remain mum about why members rejected that contract, but others speculate that the givebacks were a sticking point. A former Long Beach Civil Service Commission employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the December proposal was rejected "because it was not full retroactive pay and they were going to pay the retro over a matter of, say, two to three years rather than in one lump sum."

The former CSC employee said that the LBPD falls into two categories, patrol officers and non-patrol personnel, such as the commissioner and detectives, and that the givebacks were mostly for patrol officers, who thought that was unfair. Echoing a growing chorus of critics, the former CSC employee called the department too top-heavy, with 10 detectives, 10 sergeants and seven lieutenants and with patrol officers accounting for less than 50 percent of the staff.

"There's too many chiefs and not enough Indians," said the former CSC employee. "It's not so much the high salaries they're commanding, but the number of unnecessary positions on the payroll."

City Councilman John McLaughlin said he believes that by eliminating some lines in the contract for the top members of the department and cutting overtime, the status quo is workable.

"Detectives, I don't really consider them supervisory, and they have a certain job to do, and there will always be that opposing argument that Nassau County detectives can do their job," McLaughlin said. "But you need a detective division, and they're also plainclothes people and they do a very, very good job, especially in trying to crack down on drugs, where a patrol car doesn't have that same impact. But I'm always open to making a reduction in supervisory personnel if it could be tolerated."

Theofan declined to comment on the charge that the department is top-heavy.

On Tuesday, Council members Michael Fagen and Len Torres said they had been provided with neither the details of the new contract nor information on its financial impact. "In light of the scrutiny that this city is facing regarding the way we conduct our Civil Service business, one may be inclined to think that this administration would be bending over backwards in an effort to show good faith to all members of the City Council," Fagan said. "This is clearly not the case."

Theofan said that the council members were scheduled to meet on Wednesday, after the Herald went to press, with the attorneys who negotiated the contract, for a briefing on the terms of the proposal, which council members would be able to read. The council is likely to vote on the contract at its April 20 meeting.

Fagen and Torres also question the propriety of council President Tom Sofield Jr. voting on a contract that will benefit his father, Police Commissioner Tom Sofield Sr., as he did when the previous contract, which was ratified in 2005. The two council members said that if Sofield Jr. were to abstain from voting, the PBA would likely need either Fagen or Torres to vote for the contract in order for it to pass.

"Although this is not an illegal thing for both Tom Sofield Sr. and Tom Sofield Jr. to be intertwined with this vote, because one is an elected official and the other is appointed, we nevertheless question the moral side of this," Torres said. "Certainly it's questionable."

"I think Tom will come up with the right decision rather than it being Len Torres's moral questions," McLaughlin said. "I think Len Torres should keep his morals to himself. This is really not about morals, but politics pure and simple, with Len Torres."

Theofan said that Sofield would have to make a decision when the time comes. "But the council makes decisions each week that affect the lives of every one of our residents," Theofan said, "so where do you draw the line?"

The salaries

The Long Beach Police Department salaries listed below, for 2009, were culled from www.seethroughny.net, a site run by the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a project for the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. Some of the salaries include base pay and overtime.

Lieutenants and detective lieutenants

Det. Lt. Thomas Sofield Sr., $171,935

Det./Lt. James Canner, $162,148

Lt. William Dodge, $145,937

Lt. James McCormack, $159,435

Lt. Bruce Meyer, $183,834

Lt. John Radin, $198,686

Lt. Phillip Ragona, $166,468

Lt. Michael Tangney, $188,979

Lt. Benjamin Tayne, $155,737

Sergeants and detective sergeants

Det. Sgt. Howard Domitz, $161,392

Det. Sgt. Karl Hayes, $147,787

Sgt. Dean Burke, $133,286

Sgt. Stefan Chernaski, $139,136

Sgt. Eric Cregeen, $136,290

Sgt. Richard DePalma, $150,614

Sgt. Michael Langlois, $153,726

Sgt. Daniel Larson, $145,645

Sgt. Timothy Radin, $172,948

Sgt. Edward Ryan, $136,952

Sgt. Mark Stark, $143,691

Sgt. John Whelan, $145,034

Detectives

Det. Michael Bulik, $181,225

Det. Michael Corbett, $129,159

Det. Orlando Garcia, $147,203

Det. Georgene League-Picucci, $136,771

Det. Jose Miguez, $122,599

Det. Walter Munsterman, $173,507

Det. Thomas Rourke, $147,355

Det. John Sharpe, $139,305

Det. Christopher Walsh, $127,521

Det. David Williams, $133,522

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