PBA local president Michael Loscerbo talks about the contract negotiations, flanked by attorneys Paul Weber (l) and Joseph Artrip.
By Nancy Peckenham
Police in the city of Newburgh are turning to a mediator to resolve an impasse with the city over back pay and benefits at a time when the acting city manager has called for a reduction of 15 officers from the department in 2012.
Acting city manager Richard Herbek told the city council last week that in the absence of concessions, he’d like to see the police department re-assign some officers to cover the gap that would be created by the proposed layoffs. Bringing these officers back to the patrol desk would severely weaken the city’s ability to fight crime, according to Michael Loscerbo, the president of the Police Benevolent Association, who noted that the officers would be coming from anti-crime, anti-gang and narcotics units.
The city police officers have been working without a pay increase for three years – and they have been negotiating with the city throughout that time. The city is seeking a five-percent reduction in pay, a proposal the union rejected while offering concessions in health insurance costs and the rate of salary increases but asking for a two- and three-percent increase for officers in 2009 and 2010.
“We were so far apart, the negotiations were at a stalemate,” said Paul Weber, an attorney and former member of the city police department who is representing the union. That’s when the union turned to an arbitrator to resolve the stand-off, he said.
Acting city manager Herbek says that the city needs to reduce its workforce in order to meet the terms of both the Newburgh Recovery Act and the state-mandated cap on property tax increases, a cap adjusted in the city to 4.88 percent. Attorney Weber argues that the public can vote on whether to approve a larger increase, if given the choice.
Attorney Weber points to a hole in the ceiling of the locker room.
Water pours out of the hole in this column, Loscerbo said.
Union president Loscerbo said that in addition to having no pay raise for three years, working conditions for officers have deteriorated. In the men’s locker room, only one shower is working, the other has a gaping hole where the faucets used to be and loose wires dangle from above. Holes in the ceiling and missing tiles allow water to pour into the room during rainstorms, Loscerbo said, and mold is visible on floors and ceilings. Loscerbo explained that the janitorial service has been reduced to one person for all city buildings and as a result the holding pens are rarely cleaned. The smell of urine permeated the cellblock and a pile of dirty linens sat on the floor.
Looking around the officers’ patrol room, where the carpet the police union paid to install about 18 months ago is now torn and dirty, attorney Weber blamed mismanagement dating back several years for the city’s dire financial straits. “Now they are trying to make it on the backs of officers,” he said. “It’s not just their livelihood but that of the people of Newburgh. You’re never going to attract businesses with a lot of crime.”
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