Oakland Mayor Planning 140 Police Layoffs, 26 Furlough Days

Oakland Mayor Planning 140 Police Layoffs, 26 Furlough Days
From The San Francisco Chronicle, May 6

OAKLAND, CA – Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums on Tuesday proposed laying off 140 police officers, cutting hundreds of other city jobs and shuttering offices for nearly a month in an effort to balance a budget deficit that could eclipse $100 million.

The drastic proposal comes as city leaders and employee unions grapple with how to live within the city's means in a national economic recession.

"The unprecedented state of the economy ... will have a deep and widespread impact on virtually every service Oakland provides," Dellums said, in presenting his 2009-2011 budget to the City Council. "These are among the most difficult times ever."

Some city leaders questioned whether Oakland, with its high crime rate, can afford to cut police officers.

"I just think there's an issue (with cutting officers) when crime is Oakland's No 1 priority," said Councilman Larry Reid, who chairs the council's public safety committee. "I understand the difficult budget challenges we have, but it took us a long time to get the police department up to 803 officers."

Reid said the council, City Administrator Dan Lindheim and Dellums were negotiating with the Oakland Police Officers Association and two civilian unions on contract concessions that could save officer jobs and other city services.

Dellums has been lobbying Washington for a $67 million grant that would be used to pay police officer salaries over three years. But the mayor has been told not to count on that money to solve its budget woes, and the city won't know until September if the money is available.

Dom Arotzarena, president of the police union, said Tuesday that he was disheartened to hear the mayor's proposal to cut officers, which he said could have a devastating impact, just as police are reporting a 20 percent drop in violent crime so far this year.

"Crime will go up," Arotzarena said. "More people will die."

About 70 percent of the city's general fund is tied up in police and fire and so it is no surprise, some observers said, that public safety will be touched by the deficit.

City leaders have asked Oakland voters to help by supporting several tax measures in a special election July 21.

The council last month rejected Councilwoman Jean Quan's effort to ask voters to approve raising the city's sales tax to 10.25 percent. But the council put forth proposed tax measures on medical marijuana sales, hotel patrons, corporate mergers and an adjustment to Measure OO, which requires that money be set aside for youth recreation programs. If all the measures are approved by voters, they could generate an extra $6 million to $8 million for city coffers, said Quan who chairs the council's finance committee.

Revenue has plummeted $50 million to $414 million, officials said. Meanwhile, the city has seen expenses go up $33 million, because of rising retirement and health benefit costs and police salaries.

The city has lost millions with the downturn in the housing market as well as downward adjustments allowed residents and business owners on assessments of their properties.

Jeff Levin, vice president for Local 21 of Professional & Technical Engineers, said the city's two civilian unions have hired a consultant to present "millions in possible expense reductions and revenue increases" for the mayor and council.

Levin said the unions are looking for shared sacrifice. He said cuts must come from police as well as the council and the mayor's offices. "They can't balance this on the backs of the non-sworn workforce," he said.

The city's charter requires the council to adopt a balanced budget by June 30. Proposed budget cuts

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums offered the following ways to balance the city's $100 million budget deficit:

Eliminate 140 police officers and 249 other municipal positions.
Mandate 26 furlough days.
Close some city parks.
Rotate closures of libraries.
Postpone repayment of $24 million in debt.
Reduce civilian employee salaries by 5 percent.