Here are a few facts to consider:
Fact one: The City Council must follow state laws.
Fact two: The City Council could have honored all municipal employee contracts as originally signed and simply laid off 12 police officers plus 45 other municipal workers including firefighters.
Fact three: Manteca – like every other city in the state – has a lot less money today than they did two years ago. As Bill Clinton – who by the way was a fiscal conservative based on his actions while president – once said, “It’s the economy, stupid.”
State law is clear. The money that the city is using for the corporation yard expansion and other capital improvements is restricted by law – and backed up by court decisions. It can only be used for the purpose it was collected for and cannot be used to support a city’s general fund that includes employee salaries such as police, firefighters, and park workers.
Those who contend the city has plenty of money want elected leaders to blatantly ignore clear laws that were put in place through the efforts of taxpayers groups to prevent such chicanery and use it to pay for the 12 police officers that were laid off.
You may not like any of the City Council members or City Manager Steve Pinkerton but they have a job to do and they must follow the law of the land just like the police. We are a nation of laws.
In a way, it was a bit disingenuous for the council to direct Pinkerton to share the pain equally throughout the ranks of city employees. It probably wasn’t their intent but they sidestepped being the ultimate Satan in the eyes of some city employees instead of just being smeared as the bad guys.
Yes there were legally binding contracts. However, they do not prevent the city from laying off employees in any bargaining group with perhaps the exception of the firefighters. It might be added that the firefighters had a firm grasp on the situation and opted to let the city out of the mandatory staffing levels in the contract. That move allows the city to idle one of the four engines when sickness and vacations drop manpower levels on a shift below a certain level. It saves in excess of $400,000 a year in overtime.
It also makes firefighters vulnerable if the economy doesn’t level out and more cuts are needed. They essentially gave up job security through at least 2011 in exchange for working with the city to get through the current economic mess. They understood what was at stake.
Giving employee groups the option between compensation cutbacks and laying off workers within their specific bargaining group may have been a move to give employees a sense of buy-in. It certainly was better than simply being told you are going to have layoffs with no chance to save jobs.
From the city’s perspective it may have been slightly better for employee morale but the underlying reason it was done that way as an effort by Pinkerton – acting upon the explicit instructions of his five bosses on the city council – to do everything possible to not reduce the level of services, make the impact as minimal as possible on city employees, and balance the budget.
If you want to blame this mess on Manteca’s fiscal mismanagement, go right ahead. Nothing is going to convince you otherwise. But if you buy into that you’ve also got to blame the council for giving the police, the firefighters, and all the other municipal workers the pay raises they did when times were good. It’s kind of funny, by the way, that no one was jumping up for joy and giving the council – or the city manager at the time who was Bob Adams – the high fives for helping make police as well as other employees “more whole.”
Nobody likes what is going on. It’s reality. Maybe there is still a middle ground that can be reached to get some officers able to come back. The city must maintain public safety but it also must provide services. If they can find a way to make it until the economy comes up without devastating one for the other, then Manteca will have a stronger footing to weather future downturns.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, e-mail dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
