During one of the hardest budget sessions Des Moines has faced in recent years, the Des Moines Police Guild cried foul over the council's decision to cut five police officers from the budget next year.

The city says the money is not there, and to save positions the guild is going to have to make concessions.

After brief discussion during the council meeting on Dec. 10 the council voted in the 2010 budget, including in it the elimination of five police officer positions. The budget was passed with a deficit of nearly $200,000. The city plans to make up the difference with one-time revenues.

The projected revenues for 2010 are $3 million less than two years ago.

Des Moines Police Guild President Ross Stuth said they were in the midst of talks with the city when the council made the motion to cut five police officers. The guild and the city were discussing a one-time surrender of over $60,000.

Stuth said the Council undermined the guild when they made the motion to cut positions before the guild had a chance to put it to a vote with their members.

If the police department had conceded the one time surrender of $60,000, Stuth said he was told positions would not have to be cut. The five positions cut equal over $500,000, leading Stuth to believe the cuts were a retaliatory action by the council.

"I don't want to minimize what the council has to do, but I don't want them to minimize our heroes in our community," Stuth said.

However, according to City Manager Tony Piasecki the guild was never told police positions would not be cut if the guild gave them the $60,000 concession.

During talks for the 2009 budget year last year, City of Des Moines employees agreed to a two percent cut in their Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), taking a three percent COLA instead of the five they were legally entitled to, and agreed to five furlough days.

Staff members did this so no one would be layed off, something that happened anyway after revenues were less than expected.

The executive team, which includes the city manager, took no COLA, took a cheaper health plan and two furlough days.

The police guild did not take a reduction in their COLA. In the middle of the year they agreed to a one time surrender of benefits the equaled approximately $72,000.

Police, as a benefit, receive holiday hours in addition to vacation hours, equaling about 96 hours a year per police officer. They are allowed to cash out up to 40 hours of that at the end of the year. They gave up the ability to cash out those hours at the end of this year.

These hours will now rollover to next year, however.

This was the same agreement the guild was going to take to its members, saving $60,000, for next year.

Stuth said this is about the police officers on the street and not the politics in city hall.

"All the things we do are important," Stuth said "We have to reorganize our teams. It's going to slow us down."

It takes a police officer to answer a 911 call, he said, and now he is concerned about the number of police officers left to take that call.

"We as citizens and as a whole have a tendency to forget things, or put tragedies behind us, and I don't want to see another tragedy because a police officer gets complacent and decides not to wait for backup," Stuth said.

Police Chief Roger Baker has said he hopes there will be no service cuts. But there will be fewer police to cover the same amount of ground. The traffic unit will be cut, with officers on patrol picking up that duty, but there will be no officers dedicated to traffic.
Piasecki said if the guild makes cuts and comes up with the money they will keep the positions.

During negotiations where the city and the guild were discussing eliminating the two percent COLA and taking a cheaper health plan Piasecki said the demands of the guild either cost the city in the long-run or put the city in a weaker position to manage the department.

And regarding those demands the city council voted no.

If the police guild gave up next years two percent COLA and took a cheaper health plan it would save $130,000. If all the city employees gave up their COLA and used a cheaper health plan the combined savings would be over $300,000.

The other employee groups in the city have not agreed to any additional concessions in 2010, Piasecki said. Executive staffers are not taking a COLA for a second year.

Stuth said the Guild has talked to legal council and they hope to re-open negotiations, but the guild is not ruling out the possibility of filing a grievance against the city.