TOLEDO, OHIO -- In a closed door meeting Wednesday, Toledo Police Patrolman's Association President Dan Wagner presented a proposal to his members.
“They are temporary givebacks for a temporary problem,” said Wagner.
The problem is Toledo's $48.2 million budget deficit. Toledo Mayor Mike Bell has asked police officers for roughly $2.5 million in give backs.
Here's what union management calls the least painful way to get to that number: The deal includes a deferral of overtime pay amounting to between $1.8 and $1.9 million. That means members would not be allowed to collect overtime pay until March of 2011. Members would also be forced to pay 3% into their pensions amounting to the remaining $600,000.
The Bell administration originally proposed increasing union member’s health care to 20%. That will not happen, and assuming the projected income tax figures for the year are correct, neither will the 125 police layoffs previously proposed.
The feeling among the TPPA membership is mixed. “There's guys that are very solid in the ground that we should not give anything back. We gave concessions during the last contract and we should fight, and then there are some that think that we should give concessions to stave the layoffs, so it's going to be a democratic process and majority is going to rule,” said Wagner.
Here's how the deal would affect each officer: The $1.9 mill in deferred overtime would cost each member roughly $4,200 for the nine months the deferral would be in affect. The $600,000 in pension pickups amount to an average of $65.00 dollars per paycheck.
The TPPA and Mayor Bell say this deal will do the least amount of damage to an already frustrated group of officers.
Now, it is up to union members to agree or disagree as the proposal goes up for vote. Those votes will be tallied by 5:00 p.m. March 25.