The city of Longview is cutting two police officer positions because the police union won’t agree to freeze wages to help the city survive the economic recession, city officials said.

Longview Police Guild contract negotiations, which began more than a year ago in summer 2008, are heading to binding arbitration after guild members overwhelmingly voted down the city’s latest proposal earlier this month.

The city had proposed no cost-of-living pay increases for 2009-2010 but offered to create a new police rank of corporal, which would have provided officers with more opportunities for promotion. That program would have cost the city an extra $7,000, according to City Manager Bob Gregory. The contract also included a couple of other small changes the guild wanted, he said.

Although the guild officers recommended approval, the guild rejected the contract. Because police officers can’t strike, contract stalemates go to an arbitrator, who issues a ruling both sides must accept.

“I’ve kind of given up negotiating with them because you end up negotiating with yourselves,” Gregory said Monday. “The only way I have to deal with the police department is to reduce forces because they’re not willing to help us out on the wage side.”

He pointed out that all the city’s other employee labor groups have agreed to wage concessions and/or unpaid furlough days.

Friday, Gregory sent Police Chief Alex Perez a memo directing him to reduce staffing from the current authorized level of 56 officers to 54, which would save the city $183,000 this year and $187,000 in 2010. However, the police department has just been awarded a $663,984 federal stimulus grant to hire three entry-level officers, which would have brought the total number of officers to 59. Instead, because of the cuts, the staffing level will be 57 officers.

Tuesday, Guild president Sgt. Ed Jones said the guild finds it offensive that after asking for higher staffing for years, the city finally is willing to add officers but wants the guild to pay for them through wage concessions, he said.

“The city basically wanted rank-and-file to pay for it, and it’s our position that it’s not our responsibility. The responsibility lies with policy makers,” Jones said.

In his memo to Perez, Gregory said the decision to cut staff was forced by the guild’s rejection of the contract.

“It is unfortunate that the guild is not willing to support the city’s initiative to improve public safety in our community,” Gregory wrote. “It is clear that the guild does not share the resolve you, the council and the community have to address the crime problem, and chooses not to make similar sacrifices that our other city employees and citizens have made in these difficult times to keep our community moving forward.”

Perez is out of the office this week and was unavailable for comment Tuesday. Gregory said the chief was “very disappointed” at the news of the cuts but understands why they’re necessary.

“We’re not making any progress at all,” Gregory said. In an ideal world, he said, the police guild would reconsider its stance on the contract, “and we could still add more officers instead of being on equal footing as before.”

Fifty-nine officers is the staffing level the Police Executive Research Forum recommended for Longview in its January report. The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit police research and consulting firm spent summer 2008 evaluating the department and helped Perez develop a plan to reduce the crime rate to below the state average, a goal that the City Council named as its top priority.

“They should’ve been staffing better all along,” Jones said. “We didn’t think that the PERF report calls for high enough staffing, but the fact remains that we have been plugging along at this staffing level for a very long time. … So in terms of day-to-day operations for the guild, there’s really no change.”

According to Gregory, when contract negotiations began — before the recession was in full swing — the city originally offered the guild an annual salary increase of about 3.5 percent. But the guild wanted 7 percent cost-of-living increases in 2009 and 2010. The economy tanked, and the city threatened to go to arbitration and offer no pay raises, based on the Portland Consumer Price Index for wages, a number representing inflation that has dipped into the negative.

The guild then agreed to return to negotiations but maintained its insistence on 7 percent pay increases, according to Longview Human Resources Director Robbie Berg.

Regarding Gregory’s statements about the guild’s unwillingness to support city efforts to improve public safety, Jones replied, “The guild is on the front lines of the city’s attempt to reduce crime. … They’re the ones who actually go out there to patrol the city and protect the city.”

Still, Jones recommended approval of the city’s offer.

“I didn’t think it was a good contract offer but I thought it was a reasonable offer, considering the financial circumstances,” Jones said. “Obviously, my members thought differently.”

Related articles:

Longview Police Guild contract headed to arbitration  (March 5)

COPS grant opens door for three new police officers in Longview  (July 29)

Crime-reduction report sheds light on some solutions, signs of hope  (Feb. 1)