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| Somerville Police Employees sign a one-year contract to freeze their wages. ~Photo by Bobbie Toner |
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By James Reddick
Unlike
its counterpart across the river, the Somerville Police Employees
Association was able to see the forest through the trees. On March
27th, they signed a one-year contract agreement with Mayor Curtatone
that freezes their wages at a time when Somerville's financial revenues
are being reduced significantly. The agreement also calls for a
deferment of one week's pay for each member of the union, to be
reimbursed after 2013. Overall, approximately $190,000 will be saved as
a consequence of the accord, a small percentage of next year's
estimated budget gap, which Mayor Curtatone expects to reach $8 million.
"Balancing
our budget will require difficult choices," said Curtatone, "with this
contract, a municipal public safety union has stepped forward to say
'We'll help shoulder the burden of this fiscal crisis.'" The
negotiations in Somerville appear to have gone smoothly relative to
those currently taking place in Boston, where Mayor Menino has been
unable to reach an agreement with the Boston Police Patrolmens Union.
By agreeing to forego raises, an estimated $55 million would go towards
the city's $131 million budget gap and large-scale layoffs of up to 700
city employees could be avoided.
In Somerville, potential
layoffs were never threatened, but, said John W. Leuchter, President of
SPEA, a sense of duty to the community took precedence over personal
interests. "I never envisioned going to the union and having unanimous
support for a measure like this," Leuchter said. "These guys really
wanted to be part of the solution, not the problem."
As
compensation for their sacrifice, the Police Department will have
increased purview over when and where special police details will be
deployed. The agreement also includes a commitment by the City not to
cut police salaries should there be a reduction in state funding that
is currently guaranteed by the Quinn Bill. A measure to compensate
officers with advanced degrees in higher education programs, the Bill
could fall victim to the declining economy. This year alone, Somerville
has lost $3 million in state funding.
Mayor Curtatone recently
appointed a financial advisory committee to oversee the writing of the
next budget, the first draft of which should be ready by mid-June. To
date, no other unions have been called on to make sacrifices comparable
to those volunteered by SEPA. With $8 million to be accounted for,
however, Curtatone has informed city employees that "everything's on
the table," said Tom Champion, Executive Director of Communications.
"We've made a lot of progress," Leuchter said, "we just don't want to see the community move backward."
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