Pact includes raise, unpaid furloughs

Delaware State News

DOVER — City Council has approved a labor contract with its police officers that provides them with an immediate raise while requiring unpaid furloughs like those imposed on other city employees.

The three-year pact does not rule out the possibility of layoffs, but both city officials and the local head of the officers’ union, the Fraternal Order of Police, said they do not foresee the elimination of any of the police department’s 93 jobs.

"Given the economy, I think it’s a fair contract," FOP president David Spicer said.

The city’s previous work agreement with police expired June 30.

FOP members and supporters outspokenly opposed the possibility of furloughs or layoffs, even picketing City Hall June 22 prior to council’s approval of an annual budget that included furloughs for nearly all city workers, including police. The budget does not anticipate layoffs.

Mayor Carleton E. Carey Sr. cited the potential police furloughs as he vetoed the budget a few days later. His veto was overridden in mid-July, but the FOP still insisted that its next contract contain a no-furlough clause.

A tentative deal containing such a clause was shot down by council later in July on a 5-4 vote. Some council members said that it would be unfair to furlough most workers but not police.

Bargaining talks resumed last week, with mediator Sean Rogers of Leonardtown, Md., guiding the two sides toward the final deal. Mr. Spicer said union members ratified it Friday with no dissenting votes. Council backed it 8-0 in a special session Tuesday.

The contract reflects council’s stated desire to avoid any job cuts during the fiscal year that began July 1. Furloughs are serving as a cost-cutting alternative to layoffs.

"Layoffs are still a management right," Kim Hawkins, the city’s human resources director, said Wednesday. "We do not foresee or plan for any reduction in force through layoffs."

Some positions may be left unfilled following retirements or other departures.

Mr. Spicer, who is a police detective, said furloughs remain a threat to the safety of the public and to that of the officers themselves, who could have too little backup in some emergencies. He pointed to the Tuesday shooting death of a Georgetown officer as proof of the danger of police work.

"It’s definitely a concern of mine to take officers off the street," he said, but he noted the contract specifies the furloughs will occur only during the first year of the three-year agreement.

FOP members will receive a 3.5-percent raise retroactive to July 1. They will get a raise of 1.5 percent to 3 percent next July 1, with the size depending on the inflation rate. The two sides will return to negotiations on a possible 2011 raise, and those talks will also include an attempt to overhaul the police wage scale.

The furloughs will consist of nine days off for each officer by the end of next June. That is slightly less than the day-per-month furloughs required of other Dover workers.

The effect of the furloughs on officers’ pay will be virtually offset by the 3.5-percent pay raise, according to Ms. Hawkins.

Other new elements in the contract include:

• The FOP will be represented in discussions on how to reduce health insurance costs. The contract may be adjusted to accommodate recommendations from those discussions, but such a step can occur only if both sides agree.

• FOP members can "sell back" as many as 80 hours of unused vacation, twice as many as previously allowed.

Recent cost savings allows city government to spare employees

Delaware State News

DOVER — Better-than-expected cost savings in recent months will allow the Dover government to forego employee furloughs this month, City Manager Anthony J. DePrima said Tuesday.

He emphasized that the savings will accommodate only a one-month reprieve from the mandatory one-day-per-month furloughs without pay that began in July. All employees were subject to them, with the exception of emergency communications personnel and police. Police may yet be ordered to undergo furloughs, but initially were spared while they were in contract negotiations with the city.

In a move related to those negotiations, City Council on Monday night selected the Wilmington law firm of Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor to represent the city before a mediator who will try to end a bargaining impasse between Dover and the union representing the police.

Mr. DePrima said Scott A. Holt will be the attorney assigned to the mediation by Young Conaway. According to the firm’s web site, Mr. Holt specializes in representing management in labor and employment cases.

The city and the Fraternal Order of Police are scheduled for mediation Aug. 25-27.

Dover police have worked without a contract since their last one expired July 1.

Dover’s DePrima says fair warning given; FOP president disagrees

Delaware State News

DOVER — City Manager Anthony J. DePrima and members of the union representing Dover police disagreed sharply Thursday over whether officers received fair warning that some in their ranks might have been laid off if a tentative labor agreement had been approved by City Council.

The tentative deal was rejected Monday by council. Some council members have said they opposed it partly because it would have led to police layoffs, which Mr. DePrima told them shortly before their vote he would recommend.

Members of the Fraternal Order of Police, the officers’ bargaining unit, insist they were flabbergasted by Mr. DePrima’s comment to council. They allege that he had told union representatives during negotiations on July 13 — the day the agreement was reached — that he would do practically the opposite.

In a Thursday morning press conference, FOP President David Spicer said the city manager told them "he would amend the police department budget and avoid any reduction in force — layoffs — to meet the requirements of the tentative agreement."

"That," Mr. DePrima said shortly afterward, "is absolutely not true."

He pointed to notes taken during the July 13 talks that showed him and the city’s human resources director, Kim Hawkins, saying several times that layoffs were a possibility.

The notes, written in longhand by Elaine Edwards of the city human resources department, summarize — sometimes in sentence fragments — the discussion. They quote FOP member Aaron Dickinson, for example, as saying, "We feel that layoff is coming" — to which Ms. Hawkins responded, "We want you to know that could happen."

Earlier, Ms. Hawkins said no one wanted layoffs and Mr. DePrima said the city had no plans for layoffs, according to the notes. But Ms. Edwards, the note-taker, said that at no time did Mr. DePrima say he would prevent layoffs from occurring. "He did not promise that — that he would avoid" layoffs, she said.

Mr. DePrima said Thursday that during the negotiations he "didn’t have a plan" for offsetting the financial effects of a provision in the tentative agreement that would have spared officers from the one-day-per-month unpaid leave that has been imposed on nearly all other city workers as a cost-cutting measure. Not until the following week, he said, did he decide to recommend layoffs as a way to make up for the savings that would be lost if police were not furloughed without pay.

The layoffs, Mr. DePrima said Thursday, would not have been permanent; laid-off officers would have been called back as others retired.

Union representatives maintained they never would have accepted the tentative deal if they had known layoffs were likely. Said Detective Robert E. "Ernie" Roswell, "We asked about every way we could" whether layoffs would occur and were assured "that wasn’t their intention."

FOP President Spicer charged that Mr. DePrima has "intentionally misrepresented" the contents of the July 13 discussion. Mr. DePrima responded that FOP leaders may be trying to keep the union rank and file from knowing that layoffs were indeed part of the talks.

The next round of talks will take place in front of a mediator, who is to meet with both sides for three days beginning Aug. 25.

The FOP’s last contract expired June 30.

On Monday, council will meet in executive session to discuss the situation. One possibility is to order police to begin the day-a-month furloughs that would have been barred if council had accepted the tentative agreement.

The deal was squelched by council on a vote of 5-4.

Topic will be brought up in City Council executive session next week

Talks to resume with mediator in August

Delaware State News

DOVER — City Council on Monday night narrowly rejected a tentative labor contract with the union representing Dover police.

Council voted 5-4 against ratifying an agreement reached in negotiations between representatives of the city and the Fraternal Order of Police. Detective David Spicer, president of the Dover FOP lodge, said the deal would have spared officers from furloughs they strongly opposed, while guaranteeing them raises in only one of the next three years.

Prior to the vote, Councilman Eugene B. Ruane pressed City Manager Anthony J. DePrima on whether adoption of the proposed contract would lead to a reduction in the size of the police department. Mr. DePrima said he would recommend such a cut in the force — which consists of 91 officers and two vacant positions — but council’s approval would be necessary to carry it out.

Detective Spicer said officers — whose general membership had earlier voted in favor of the agreement — were unaware that a reduction in force was a possibility. "We were never told," he said. "Otherwise, we would never have agreed to it."

But Mr. DePrima said the agreement was written in a way that opened the door to such a cut.

Voting to reject the proposal were Councilman Ruane, Council President Beverly C. Williams and council members Thomas J. Leary, Sophia R. Russell and William P. McGlumphy.

Voting in the minority were council members Timothy A. Slavin, James G. McGiffin, Kenneth L. Hogan and Reuben Salters.

Detective Spicer said contract talks would resume — this time in front of a mediator — next month. He said mediation already had been scheduled in case contract talks were not successfully concluded by August.

He said the deal rejected Monday would have covered three years, with officers definitely receiving a raise only in the second year. A possible raise for the third year would have been subject to further negotiations.

But furloughs, which the FOP vigorously opposed, were not part of the agreement.

The threat of police furloughs helped spark picketing by officers June 22 as council members arrived at City Hall to vote on an annual budget that night. But council approved a budget that included furloughs for nearly all city workers, including police — only to see it vetoed a few days later by Mayor Carleton E. Carey Sr., who sided with the police on the furlough question.

Council responded July 13 by overriding the veto.

Mayor Carey said he probably would have voted in favor of the proposed contract. "We need to get this behind us," he said.

In other business:

• Council eliminated a benefit for future city retirees, adopting a committee recommendation that Dover no longer reimburse retirees who pay for Medicare Part B coverage. The coverage, which costs most retirees about $100 monthly, supplements service available under the federally administered Medicare program.

Council’s action does not affect existing retirees, who will remain eligible for the reimbursement.

• City finance director Donna Mitchell recommended a new, less costly pension plan be launched for future employees. Existing employees would not be affected.

In a presentation to the Legislative, Finance and Administration Committee prior the council meeting, Ms. Mitchell called for starting a plan that requires future employees to contribute more toward pensions than do existing employees. Additionally, the proposed new plan would include no early-retirement provision.

The committee issued no recommendation on the proposal.

• Council formally reduced its own pay for the coming year by 10 percent, leaving each member with an annual salary of $6,674, except for the council president, who will earn $7,787. The cuts are included in the new budget, but had to be separately approved.

At Mayor Carey’s request, they cut his pay 2 percent, to $44,100. His salary had not been changed in the budget.

• Council, as expected, formally approved a much-ballyhooed contract with LS Energy that is to result in the creation of solar fields at the city’s Garrison Oak Technology Park on White Oak Road. The plan may be online as early as late 2010.

• Council, in another formality, accepted the withdrawal of a controversial application for annexation of Dover Golf Center on Artis Drive. The center’s owner said last week he would not buck opposition to his request for his property to be added to the city and rezoned for housing. Neighbors had contended new homes would generate too much traffic.

Tentative agreement reached between city, police union

Delaware State News

DOVER — City Council voted to override Mayor Carleton E. Carey Sr.’s veto of the city’s recently adopted budget Monday night.

The mayor objected to budget provisions that would furlough police officers and reduce ambulance service.

Meanwhile Monday, the city and the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 15 reached a tentative agreement on a contract.

The pact must be approved by the full FOP membership as well as Dover City Council, but during the interim period there will be no furloughs, said City Manager Tony DePrima.

"I was very pleased to see that," the mayor said of the tentative agreement.

The mayor said he was "really disappointed" that council overrode his veto of a budget provision that cuts ambulance service in the city, especially in a time of rising demand for service.

"I’ll be back," he vowed. "I’ll go back to square one, and bring the issue before the Safety Advisory Committee."

In other business, council approved first readings of procedural ordinances concerning property taxes, as well as an ordinance that cuts council members’ compensation by 10 percent.

Second readings of the ordinances will be July 27.

Earlier Monday, the city’s Legislative, Finance and Administration Committee on Monday agreed that reimbursements of Medicare Part B premiums should be continued to current city retirees but not to new hires.

The committee voted unanimously to accept and send to City Council the first of four alternatives proposed by Finance Director Donna Mitchell, and table three other options.

Committee chairman William McGlumphy opened the meeting to members of the public who crowded into council chambers.

Fran Hettinger asked the committee to consider the needs of those already retired and receiving the reimbursement.

"I have no problem with taking the benefit away from new hires," she said.

"I think it sends the wrong message to retirees, that their benefits are under attack," said Tim Mullaney, who retired from the Dover Police Department in 1992.

City retiree Les Blake reminded the committee that there are two classes of retirees: those represented by a union contract and those who are not.

He said there are 70 retirees who are not represented by bargaining units.

To take away their reimbursement amounts to what Mr. Blake called "a 3.4-percent, permanent, ongoing cost-of-living reduction."

He called taking away any benefit "a really disastrous thing to do."

"This is part of what makes the city’s retirement package so attractive to the people to stay with the city," Mr. Blake said.

The committee also voted to recommend the hiring of a consultant to coordinate benefits for retirees.

"I don’t know that we have the time to do this ourselves or the expertise to do this ourselves," said Miss Mitchell.

Beverly C. Williams

As I sit here pondering the 2009-2010 budget, the economic crisis that is going on affects all of us, whether you are looking at it from the level of the overall budget for our country, county or even the city of Dover.

Cost-saving ideas race through my mind on what can be done that will have the least impact to our constituents. We need to try to maintain the services that are provided by the city with the least amount of impact to you. Union and non-union employees have voiced both acceptance and resistance of mandatory furloughs and their willingness to forgo any sort of pay increases.

While I am aware that it will have some impact on what is provided to the community, it is the most conservative way I know of to make ends meet on this budget, without raising taxes and fees to our community. Will you notice that it may take a little longer to pay a bill, or get a plan approved? Absolutely. However the employees are dedicated and many are willing to make sacrifices in order to keep their jobs which support their families.

Recently individuals, predominantly police officers, rallied, wanting the community to know that they do not agree with the proposed furloughs. In further research I have found that the Dover Police are currently paid at a higher rate than those in the Wilmington and Newark area.

A hiring freeze has been put in place for some surrounding areas, and any of their positions that have opened up remain unfilled, reducing the overall size of their force. I am sure they are still providing their community with a viable level of protection.

The Delaware State Police are getting a 2.5 percent reduction in their pay. Currently the city of Dover is in contract negotiations with the police department and some of the protesting may have to do with negotiations vs. the furloughs

As a member of council, I voted to reduce my compensation by 10 percent. I personally felt that I had to give something to aid in being part of the solution to our budget problems. Not that my council stipend is much, it was truly the principal of the fact to make the sacrifice. The last thing I want to see happen is for individuals to lose their jobs.

While it may not be enough to cover everything with the furloughs, and lack of raises, it is a step in the right direction. It does not minimize the level of respect I have for the police department or any other city employee. I feel proud to be council president of a place where employees are willing to make sacrifices for the better of our community As a member of council it is always important that we consider what is in the best interest of our citizens, in order to make Dover a place where people want to live.

Solar power proposal, health care plan also on busy Monday agenda

Delaware State News

DOVER — Next Monday could be one of the more momentous days this year for the city government.

The Dover Utility Committee is to consider details of a proposed agreement to generate solar power on city land on White Oak Road. The project not only could add to the city’s supply of clean energy, but also serve as a magnet to environmentally conscious companies interested in settling near such a facility.

The Legislative, Finance and Administration Committee will hear city employees’ ideas for reducing spending. It also will hear about a cost-cutting idea employees might not like: eliminating the city’s reimbursement of retirees’ payments for Medicare Part B, a program that supplements the basic health care available through the federally administered Medicare program.

While those issues could get officials and spectators hot and excited, the Parks, Recreation and Community Enhancement Committee will discuss one that could cool people off — little people, especially. That committee is to learn about "spray parks," which enable kids to play in water without encountering the dangers of a swimming pool.

But all those meetings are just preliminaries to the City Council session that evening, when council will vote on whether to override Mayor Carleton E. Carey Sr.’s veto of Dover’s recently adopted budget. The mayor objects to budget provisions that would furlough police officers and reduce ambulance service.

Some council members say they are willing to consider Mayor Carey’s arguments — later, when there should be a clearer picture of finances in the fiscal year that began last week. They must muster six votes from the nine-member council to shoot down the veto.

"It’s going to be a lively night," Councilman William P. McGlumphy predicted.

City utilities director Ronald H. Lunt confirmed that a proposed deal with a solar energy firm will be presented for a review by the Utility Committee. He declined to elaborate before details are available to council as part of the packet of information it receives before each meeting.

Information provided to council also is available to the public in the agenda section of the city web site, cityofdover.com. That information is to be online today.

The solar facility would be located in the still-to-be-developed Garrison Oak Technology Park on White Oak Road at Del. 1. A gas-fired power plant also is a possibility there.

Councilman McGlumphy said the Legislative, Finance panel, which he chairs, already has 30 suggestions from employees on how to save money. "Who better to point out savings than the employees?" he said. "They know where the waste is."

The ideas were generated as workers argued that Dover has many ways to save money other than furloughs. The furloughs ultimately were imposed — on all but a handful of the city’s 400 employees — but the ideas will be aired in coming meetings.

Details on possible new approaches to Medicare Part B, like those on the solar project, were not immediately available but may be online today.

Most retirees pay $96.40 per month for the supplemental coverage, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The city reimburses its retirees who purchase that coverage. That, said Councilman McGlumphy, is a benefit most employers do not provide.

The parks committee will hear about a trendy way to keep kids cool in the summer.

City recreation director Zachery C. Carter is to discuss "spray parks," where water shoots from various, often colorful devices onto children playing beneath or beside them. A number of communities are turning to spray parks as safer, more economical alternatives to swimming pools, Mr. Carter said.

Dover has no municipal pool. It offers swimming at Silver Lake Park, but water quality sometimes is an issue there.

With the city scraping for funds during the current budget year, which began last week, construction of a spray park in Dover would begin next year at the earliest, Mr. Carter said.

He has calculated that the cost of construction — not including water and electrical connections — would range from $195,000 to $326,000, depending upon the type of system employed, whether a building is provided, and where the project is located. He has studied two possible sites, Schutte Park and Silver Lake Park.

Dover council will reconsider $157M budget at July 13 meeting

Dover mayor says public safety at risk with police furloughs

Delaware State News

DOVER — Mayor Carleton E. Carey Sr. has vetoed the budget approved Monday by City Council, saying the spending plan endangers public safety by reducing police and ambulance services.

In a letter delivered late Tuesday afternoon, the mayor objected to budget provisions that furlough each police officer one day a month — the same is in store for nearly all 400 Dover employees — and cut funding for emergency ambulance service.

Council can override the veto by approving the budget in a second vote, as long as at least six of the nine council members vote to do so. Six members voted in favor of it Monday, meaning an override may be certain unless one of those members changes his position.

"Furloughs would cause a serious problem providing adequate staffing to man the shifts to provide protection for our citizens" and for the officers themselves, Mayor Carey said in his letter. And the planned reduction in ambulance service, he said, comes as demand for that service is rising.

"I know the budget is tight, but we need to provide enough police and ambulance services to adequately protect our citizens," he wrote. "In my opinion, this budget does not do that and I would like the City Council to consider finding the money elsewhere in the budget to cover these two very important items."

The $157 million budget reflects economic conditions that plague governments across the nation as businesses falter and the real estate, construction and development industries remain stalled. Unlike many governments, Dover has avoided employee layoffs, though it has instituted a hiring freeze.

The budget contains no tax increase, but raises water rates slightly.

Savings are to total $865,000 from the furloughs and $122,500 from the elimination of an eight-hour daily ambulance crew shift.

Two ambulance crews will work on the day shift, but only one on the second and third shifts. Currently, only the third (overnight) shift has just one crew.

The mayor’s veto was good news to the Fraternal Order of Police, the union representing city officers, which picketed City Hall Monday prior to the budget adoption.

"We were pretty delighted to hear that," Detective David Spicer, who heads the union local, said Wednesday. "We can only hope the mayor gets support."

Councilman Thomas J. Leary, who voted for the budget, called the mayor’s action "unfortunate."

"He kept rather mum during the whole process," never strongly objecting to the provisions he criticized in his veto letter, Councilman Leary said. "I know I’m not going to change my vote."

Mayor Carey said Wednesday night that he pointed out the ambulance situation in a council meeting May 19.

"I hope citizens will contact the council members and some council members will have a change of heart," he said.

The last such veto came in 2006, when then-mayor Stephen R. Speed charged that council had dedicated too little money to paying down a pension shortfall. Council failed to override the veto and eventually compromised with Mr. Speed.

Councilman Leary said there is a possibility a compromise on Mayor Carey’s issues can occur "later, maybe."

"To do it right up front, in my opinion, would be fiscally irresponsible," he said, noting that questions remain about the next state budget’s effect on Dover. The Delaware legislature, struggling to overcome an $800 million budget shortfall, faces a Tuesday deadline to pass a budget.

City workers protest; panel votes to slice its own pay 10 percent

Delaware State News

DOVER — City Council voted Monday night to furlough city workers one day each month.

First, though, the council — in a surprise move — voted to cut its own pay 10 percent.

The decisions followed a rare public protest by city workers, in which some 100 people — mainly police officers, their family members and other supporters — walked the brick oval in front of City Hall, many carrying "No Furlough" signs.

"I’d rather see my taxes be raised a little than to see" furloughs, commented Kent County Sheriff Jim Higdon, a city resident, who said he joined the protesters because of his respect for Dover police. "No good can come from this."

Council members, who had emphasized in recent weeks that no worker would be laid off, approved the monthly day of unpaid leave as part of a proposed $157 million budget that will take effect July 1.

The lone amendment to the budget was the salary reduction for the council. Councilman Timothy A. Slavin, noting the council was exempt from the financial burdens of the furloughs, moved for a 5-percent cut, which Councilman Reuben Salters criticized as too little. The council settled on 10 percent.

Council members earn roughly $7,500 a year.

Moving on to the budget as a whole, the council suspended its rules to allow the president of the police union to speak. Fraternal Order of Police leader David Spicer, a city detective, warned that safety would be at risk if furloughs were implemented.

"Nobody knows how dangerous this city can be except me and other officers injured on the job," said Detective Spicer, who was shot in 2001 as he attempted to subdue a suspect in a suspected drug deal.

He recommended that council avoid furloughs by paying workers from some of the funds set aside to replace Dover Public Library. "Don’t build this library on the backs of your employees," he said.

The furloughs, which will save an estimated $865,000, will be required of all employees except those involved in dispatching emergency vehicles.

The financial effect on workers of the unpaid leave will be partly offset by raises due to all of them except police. Police officers, too, may receive raises, but they still are negotiating a contract to replace their current agreement with the city, which expires at the end of this month.

Detective Spicer said before the meeting that contract talks have stalled and representatives of the police and the city are to meet with a mediator in August.

Furloughs originally were proposed only for Dover’s roughly 300 unionized workers, including some 200 in bargaining units whose contracts include automatic raises. The city’s approximately 100 nonunion employees were to be spared furloughs while getting no raise, but they objected to that arrangement.

A hiring freeze will remain in effect.

The property tax rate will remain as is, as will electricity rates. But the cost of water will rise, by $21 a year for a family using 7,000 gallons monthly. Such a household will pay an additional $5.16 per year beginning in July 2010.

Council members Slavin and Sophia R. Russell dissented in the 6-2 budget approval. Councilman Eugene B. Ruane was absent.

Councilwoman Russell also voted against the salary reduction for council members. She said later that it was too drastic. She said her vote against the budget as a whole stemmed from her sympathy toward city workers.

Councilman Slavin called the budget "difficult and dangerous," saying costs avoided in the coming fiscal year will have to be met the following year. He said the financial plan has "no safety net" to deal with additional financial burdens Dover may face because of decisions made by the state legislature, which is to pass its own budget in the next week.

"We may be back here in a few short weeks to plug holes in a (Dover) budget that’s already thin," he said.

He stressed, however, that he was not criticizing his colleagues and conceded that he had no "better budget proposal at this time."

The police protest, which lasted for more than an hour before the meeting, was orderly, with some officers’ spouses and children joining in.

Said Detective Spicer, "I can’t remember the last time we picketed — well before I came on (the police force). I’ve been on 13 years."

Patrolman First Class Scott Davis said the action was needed to emphasize that crime could worsen if police are on duty fewer hours.

"Right now, with the manpower we have, we’re just keeping our thumb on it," he said.

House panel to debate proposed legislation on Wednesday

Delaware State News

DOVER — Legislation preventing furloughs from decreasing police officers’ and firefighters’ pensions has been introduced in the House of Representatives and will be heard in committee on Wednesday.

House Bill 218, sponsored by Rep. E. Bradford "Brad" Bennett, D-Dover South, would allow county and municipal governments to ensure that the calculation of their police officers’ and paid firefighters’ pensions would not take into account any salary reductions from furloughs. The bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Darryl M. Scott, D-Dover, and Sen. Brian J. Bushweller, D-Dover, and Sen. Bruce C. Ennis, D-Smyrna.

"This bill would preserve their pensions at their current pay level regardless of any furloughs, and it won’t cost the state any money," Rep. Bennett said. "We owe it to our police officers and firefighters who have worked all their lives to protect all of us and are getting ready to retire."

The issue was raised because the city of Dover’s fiscal 2010 budget includes 12 furlough days for employees, including police officers, which would decrease their salaries. Since many pensions are calculated based on their three highest-paid consecutive years, the loss of pay due to the furlough would decrease the pension of workers who are within a couple years of retirement.

Because county and municipal police officers’ pensions are regulated through state law, the legislation is necessary to allow local governments to preserve officers’ pensions.

"Usually, your highest-paid years are the last years before you retire," Rep. Bennett said. "We don’t want good officers to be forced to choose between retiring now to preserve a higher pension or be penalized for staying on the force."

Dover Mayor Carleton E. Carey Sr. said the city approached the legislature about the issue to find a solution that allowed the capital city to address its budget shortfall without negatively impacting police officers’ pensions.

Several of the authorized force of 93 sworn officers would be eligible for retirement within the next two or three years. The city, he added, is looking to preserve the pensions of all of its nearly 400 employees, but only the officers’ pensions are impacted by state law.

"We are trying to reduce our spending to get through this economic situation, but we also don’t want to affect someone’s pension," Mayor Carey said. "Police officers put their lives on the line and are among the most dedicated employees we have. We want to make sure their pensions are kept intact."

While the bill was prompted by the issue raised in Dover, Rep. Bennett noted that it would preserve the pensions for all county and municipal police officers and paid firefighters throughout the state.

No property-tax hike in lean Dover proposal

Delaware State News

DOVER — City Manager Anthony J. DePrima on Tuesday unveiled a proposed annual budget that calls for no property-tax increase but responds to tight economic times by recommending unpaid furloughs for most city workers, no pay hikes for others, and few prominent projects other than a continuing effort to develop a new library.

Mr. DePrima said the draft proposal responds to the desires of City Council, which has final say over financial plans for the fiscal year that will begin July 1. He said council made clear that it wanted to avoid layoffs and hold the line on taxes and electricity bills.

"This is the leanest (budget) I’ve seen," Councilman Reuben Salters, a 20-year council veteran, said later. "As we review this budget, we may have to make additional cuts."

Mr. DePrima acknowledged that council may question his proposals to furlough the city’s approximately 300 unionized workers one day a month without pay and deny raises to its approximately 100 nonunion workers. The nonunion personnel would not be furloughed.

The potential furloughs helped draw about two dozen employees to Mr. DePrima’s annual budget presentation to the news media, which usually attracts a handful of reporters and few others.

"We have an extra-large crowd this year," he said as he opened the afternoon meeting. "We have a lot of guests from various unions and some management folks."

One of the managers, Police Chief Jeffrey Horvath, said afterward that losing each of his officers for a day each month is bound to affect police response to complaints.

"People are going to wait a little longer to get a cop there, unfortunately," he said, adding that he will try to minimize problems by scheduling furloughs for times when demand for services ordinarily is relatively low.

"That could be very challenging to get all those (furlough) hours in."

Among nonunion workers, the absence of an annual raise might be a first for many. Senior City Administrator Teresa Tieman said the last year without a pay hike was 1992, but employees at that time received a one-time payment in lieu of a raise. No such payment is proposed this year.

The budget also includes no contribution toward future health care costs for retirees — for which $500,000 was budgeted in the current fiscal year — and little money for new vehicles or equipment. A hiring freeze would continue.

Councilman Salters said council is in general agreement with Mr. DePrima’s approach.

But a union leader said Mr. DePrima may be optimistic in expecting aid from the state government to help with street repairs and continued work on the proposed library. Noting the state, like the city, faces diminished revenues as construction and business as a whole continue to falter, David Spicer, president of the city’s Fraternal Order of Police lodge, asked, "How are they going to afford to chip in?"

Mr. Spicer, a police detective, reiterated his contention that residents’ quality of life may suffer if city workers spend less time on the job. "You can only rob Peter to pay Paul so much," he said.

Mr. DePrima said he has directed department heads to try to limit the furloughs’ effects on residents. "We hope there will be little or no impact," he said.

His proposed water-rate increase would be spread over two years, with most of it implemented July 1. It would cost a household an additional $21 a year in the next fiscal year and $5.16 atop that in the following 12 months, assuming the use of 7,000 gallons of water per month.

"That’s a high-end user," Mr. DePrima said. "That’s got to be a family of four or five."

Even at the new rate, Dover residents would pay less for water than do people in most jurisdictions cited by the University of Delaware in a December report on Delaware and neighboring states.

The added revenue from the rate change would help pay for additional efforts to eliminate so-called "brown water."

"We’re finally starting to see success in that area," Mr. DePrima said.

Mr. Spicer suggested water revenue also be spent on keeping city workers working their current schedules. "I think it’s time to turn on the spigot," he said.

Budget highlights

City’s union workers reportedly facing one unpaid day off per month

Delaware State News

DOVER — City employees who belong to labor unions could face furloughs after July 1.

Detective David Spicer, president of the Fraternal Order of Police lodge representing Dover police officers, said he and other union leaders were told last week by City Manager Anthony J. DePrima that furloughs are a possibility in the next budget year.

Mr. DePrima declined Monday to confirm or deny Detective Spicer’s report, saying he would reserve comment until a press conference today in which he is to present a detailed budget proposal for City Council’s consideration.

Mr. DePrima will unveil his plan amid economic turmoil that already has led to a proposal by Gov. Jack A. Markell to reduce state workers’ pay by 8 percent and a decision by Kent County Levy Court to make employees pay more for benefits. Other governments and many private employers have imposed similar measures, as well as layoffs.

Detective Spicer said Mr. DePrima informed the union leaders that the city’s nonunion employees would be spared furloughs but get no raise.

Workers represented by the FOP, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the IUE — officially, the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers-Communication Workers of America — could be furloughed one day each month, according to Detective Spicer’s account of the union leaders’ meeting with Mr. DePrima.

Representatives of the IBEW and the IUE could not be reached for comment.

Each one-day furlough would reduce monthly pay by between 4 and 5 percent, Detective Spicer said.

In the case of police, he said, furloughs also could undermine public safety.

"I think it would affect the quality of life of people in Dover, having fewer officers on the street," he said.

Dover has been recognized for clearing criminal cases at a far higher rate than the average U.S. police department, but he said that distinction could be threatened if each of the city’s 93 officers is forced to take an additional day off each month. Officer safety also could be at risk, he said.

"We’re sympathetic" to the city’s desire to cut spending while revenues are down, Detective Spicer said, but reducing police presence would be an extreme response.

And it might not prove to be much of a money saver, he said, if some officers had to work overtime because others were unavailable.