L.A. mayor says all city employees - even police and firefighters - should take pay cuts to help cut deficit (Jackson: rent, low crime)

[SoCaliTrojan]

Originally Posted by AnUnidentifiedMale

I would think it's difficult enough as it is to live a decent life on a policeman's salary in L.A., and now he wants to cut their pay?

They are paid well, especially compared to officers in other parts of the country. I'm a civilian in that department, and the officers start out at 61k per year if they have (any) college degree (this starts once they start going through the academy). Without a degree, I think it's around 59k.

Officers get a ton of overtime. If they are close to ending their shift but they have to book a suspect and write a report, it may take around 2 hours of overtime. Some may even sign up for overtime detail, such as working the public event like the Michael Jackson funeral. Also, civilian overtime is being curtailed, so now officers have to do overtime to cover some duties (and since officers are paid more, that time-and-a-half overtime hits the department harder).

We also use officers for desk jobs. Some only stay on the street for 2 years (the minimum required to get a promotion down the line, plus it's the minimum required number of years for a Police Officer I), and then they move to a desk job asap. These are jobs that civilians can do, but we don't have civilians to do the job. By the way, sworn employees are paid alot more compared to civilians that are equivalent to their rank. What this means is that as the mayor lays off civilians, we will be forced to use officers to do their jobs. Thus, we are putting a higher paid employee to do a job that they may not be as qualified to do (for example, an officer without computer experience might have to do a job that deals with technology).

I won't even say anything about how productive officers are while occupying desk jobs. Let's just say at least there are civilians around to actually get some work done.

If the City wants to save money, it needs to include the officers. Or it needs to create a two-tier officer salary. They can keep their salary if they work on the streets, or they can get a pay cut for working an admin/civilian job. That might get some of the officers wanting to go back out into the field (actually, the officers would rather be furloughed than to get a pay cut, so they would all transfer to geographic divisions). Yes, some officers are light-duty, but not all of them. The light-duty officers can be used for desk jobs that absolutely need to be handled by an officer.

If I'm laid off, I'll probably be replaced by an officer. After all, when I was hired, I inherited the duties of an officer who was doing the work of a vacant civilian position. That saved the City alot of money, considering I'm the lowest paid in my division, and I replaced a Police Officer III.

On a side note, I remember one of the mayor's speech saying that the City was already in financial problems when he was elected years ago. If he knew then how bad it was, why is he adamant on hiring more officers? He just wants to keep his promise, but he's killing the City by doing it. He cites a reduction of crime due to an increased police presence, but I think we have enough officers now to maintain the low crime rate. We are still hiring officers every month, albeit with smaller class sizes. Maybe we should bring up a discrimination lawsuit....the City is hiring people who are willing, in shape, and able to work as an officer. Or maybe we should deputize the civilians so that officers won't have to replace them...lol (just kidding)

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by subPrimeTime

Great point NaplesRes. In the private industry (in which I work) you don't get this type of 'coddling' of employees, as if a pay cut is a death sentence or something.

When the going gets tough in the corporate world, non-essential or lower-performing employees are flat-out eliminated.

And the best people quit and go to your competition.

[Huckleberry3911948]

if anything like here immediately thereafter the mayor and staff will vote themselves a bonus and pay raise for coming up with this idea.

[JohnG72]

The citizens of this city need to get really mad...Like Howard Beale "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it!" mad.

Look, City Clowncil members make $180K a year. Their staff make an average of $70K a year. These are appointed positions. City Clowncil members also get a $3 million a year slush fund as well as innumberable other perks(food allowance, car, travel, etc). There are 15 city council members.

All told, the City Clowncil funds should be cut to next to nothing. If the cititzen of LA(of which I'm one) had any brains at all(not to mention guts), there would be a referendum on the next ballot to ammend the city charter as follows do the:

-Cut City Council member pay to $25K a year and make it a part time job.

-Remove all slush fund budgeting from city council positions.

-Create very small field offices staffed by 5 or so clerical employees and 1 supervisor. These offices would be walk in information centers where citizens could call or walk in and get information on city services or bring up issues withing the community. The total cost per year for these offices would be less than $500K including salary, benefits, and operating costs....a far cry from the $3 million a year slush funds the city clowncil currently receives. The employees in the office would be responsible to meet with the city council member once a week to relay the concerns of the community, and also to maintain email and telephone contact with the council person.

-Make the city council meet twice per week, for four hours(per their part time status). Say they hold meetings at City Hall on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6pm-10pm. Open City Hall East parking for free. This evening time allows city council members to hold a day job. The parking and evening hours allow all citizens of LA to be able to attend City Council meetings.

-Remove discretionary spending from the Mayors office.

Frankly, the mayor's spending combined with the city clowncil's slush funds alone would be enough to balance this years budget.

[jc76]

I think the street workers who stand around should be cut down before the police and emergency workers.
I think I would be willing to take a dollar pay cut if it meant 4000 less people without jobs. People need to learn to budget better, city governments included.

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by NaplesRes

Actually I would give them 5% raises. But I also think they should contribute at least 8% to their pensions

If they're CalPERS, they should be at 7%., if I recall correctly.

[JohnG72]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

If they're CalPERS, they should be at 7%., if I recall correctly.

City of LA has their own pension fund. Their employees are not on CalPERS.

[CESpeed]

Originally Posted by AnUnidentifiedMale

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Friday called on all city employees to take pay cuts, including police officers and firefighters, saying it would be the only substantive way to alleviate the need to slash 4,000 city jobs.

He warned that “there will be more" agencies cut as part of his upcoming 2010-11 budget.

Villaraigosa says all L.A. employees -- even police and firefighters -- should take pay cuts to help cut deficit | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

Further proof that Tony the Pony is an idiot. I'm so glad I left L.A.

[PhDnMe]

I worked for the City of LA and escaped just in time and moved out of California. I think the Mayor would be well advised to do all Angelinos a favor and eliminate the worthless City Planning Department first....

[Statz2k10]

Originally Posted by NaplesRes

police make plenty. When you count the benefits, overtime, and ridiculous pensions nobody should be crying for them if they have to take a 5% pay cut. it's called living in the real world not the world of government.

What about the moral sense to all of this though. An area like LA the cops are in an area more dangerous than a lot of places in the US. You tell them to take a pay cut and now there life is worth even less.

Maybe things need to be changed on how much they make in OT. But I think lowering there base salary is wrong.