Politics & Government

New Police Contract Stalled after Headcount "Discrepancies"

The final stage of contract negotiations between the city and the police union have stalled after the City Council raised questions about the Cranston Police Department's current head count.

The City Council's Finance Committee subcommittee met Thursday and tabled the contract after "we noticed some personnel discrepancies we were not expecting," said Councilman Michael Farina. "We continued the contract because we needed to get a true and accurate compliment of the heads currently on staff."

Although the bottom line might change by just a few thousand dollars if the head count is revised, the overall percentage of the cost increase to the city over the life of the contract could increase or decrease enough to warrant another round of discussions between union leaders and city officials before any City Council vote.

Chief of Staff Carlos Lopez told council members Thursday night that both sides would meet and the matter will be discussed during a special executive session meeting to be scheduled at a later date. Finance Committee members were supposed to hold a private meeting last night, but that was also delayed along with the two agenda items representing a new contract for fiscal 2012 to 2013 and 2013 to 2016 respectively.

Lopez said the city's intention is to answer the council's questions before the next Finance Committee meeting in November. 

The proposed contract on the docket Thursday night projects a total cost increase to the city of about $502,000 through 2016. Although salaries increase by about $1.1 million with raises at 2, 2.5 and 3 percent consecutively beginning in 2014, much of the increase is offset with increases in medical insurance cost sharing and the introduction of employee contributions to other post employment benefits (OPEB).

Last week, International Brotherhood of Police Officers Local 301 Union President Steven Antonucci said the contract looks similar to other recent municipal contract deals and includes several major concessions by police, such as a provision that no longer ties detective promotions to seniority — something the city really wanted.

"It's a fair contract," Antonucci said. 

The old police contract actually expired on June 30 of 2012. In an Oct. 4 letter to the mayor and City Council, Finance Director Robert Strom said there was no fiscal impact based un unaudited calculations for the year that just ended (July 1 of 2012 to June 30 of 2013). In fact, he projected a $411,294 surplus that "will be used to transfer and balance out other public safety expense line items."



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