The Hermosa Beach Police Officers Association has begun a public outreach effort calling attention to what it sees as detrimental cuts to the salary and benefits package looming in the proposed city budget.
Representatives from the police union spoke about their concerns at the Kiwanis Club last week, and the president of the POA said a mailer to residents is in the works.
The police officers say their pay scale has already been hit hard, and as a result the department is currently experiencing a shortage of experienced officers applying for open positions.
HBPD Sgt. Kevin Averill told Kiwanis Club members that the department has only six qualified applicants for three open positions. The trickle of unsolicited applications from veteran officers began to slow when the department went to what’s called a “two tier” retirement package two years ago as part of cost cutting by the city, Averill said.
“With what we have now, we’re sustainable,” Averill said. “I don’t think we’re going to be sustainable with what the city wants to enact.”
Mayor Jeff Duclos declined to discuss specific points of contention, saying it would amount to negotiating through the media.
“I respect their concerns and their right to raise them, and I believe the public has a right to know their position,” Duclos said. “I hear their concerns. I talk with these guys all the time.”
If the city imposes its compensation conditions on city employee unions, most other police departments in Southern California would have a more competitive salary and benefits package than Hermosa, Averill said.
“It’s going to be very hard to attract, train and maintain quality officers in this department,” Averill said, adding that he was concerned for the liability the city might incur without quality officers.
City officials often note that Hermosa has one of the highest retirement obligations, relative to its size, in Los Angeles County. Averill and POA President Jaime Ramirez said that the city is in fine financial shape, and there’s no reason for deep cuts again. They said that additional cuts in their benefits package could eventually lead to the city to further cut costs by replacing a struggling Hermosa Police Department with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, something voters rejected twenty years ago.
“There’s no strategy in place, there’s is no agreement in place in terms of any strategy that relates to bringing in the sheriff’s department. That’s patently not true,” Duclos said.
Ramirez said the police would be harder hit than other city employees because they have incentives built into their pay structure. “There’s no way I could afford with these [proposed] cuts to continue to work here,” Ramirez said.
The city is looking to cap its contribution for employee health coverage and take away retiree-medical benefits for new hires among other changes, police officers said.
