The union that represents Lawrence’s police officers says the city has more than enough money to keep insurance benefits at current levels.

“Do I think the city can afford it? Yes,” said Officer Darren Othick, president of the Lawrence Police Officers Assn.

City administrators say the union’s reasoning is based on audits done before the city’s current budget crunch, and on a misunderstanding of how the city can use money.

“The mindset is that everything is the same as it was three years ago, in the 1990s” when the economy was booming, City Manager Mike Wildgen said. “It’s not the same, and I don’t know if it will ever be the same.”

Now Lawrence city commissioners will have to decide which position they believe. The commission will try to resolve the impasse between the union and city administrators during a public hearing at its weekly meeting Tuesday.

It’s an issue some officers say could mean the difference between a motivated, experienced police force in Lawrence and one that’s increasingly less so.

Members of the police union said they were not seeking a pay increase in a year when it appeared no city employee would receive a raise.

“We’re not looking to increase,” Detective Dan Ward said. “We’re looking to stay where we are.”

Unresolved issues

Under terms of the contract offered by the city, that would be difficult. Health insurance is becoming more costly, and city administrators have decided Lawrence can’t keep pace with the growing costs — meaning police officers will have to pay more out-of-pocket expenses for health care.

“If the city of Lawrence does not fund the difference in the projected insurance cost for 2004, it will cost city employees with the family medical coverage approximately $1,000 to work for the city … in 2004,” the union said in a written overview of negotiations.

Administrators point out all city employees are facing the same situation, not just police. But they said the city couldn’t afford to keep pace with insurance costs, projected to increase 18 percent in 2004.

Assistant City Manager Debbie Van Saun said in a memorandum that doing so was “not something with which the city’s current financial condition appears compatible.”

Also a sticking point for the union: vacation time. The officers said they received less time off than officers in other departments in northeast Kansas, and that the city should begin making up the difference. Police are asking for an increase of vacation from 120 to 128 hours a year for 10-year veterans, and from 144 to 152 hours for 15-year veterans of the force.

“Essentially, it’s one extra day,” said Det. Zach Thomas, the union’s secretary. “And that still leaves us at that bottom.”

City administrators countered that vacation was just one part of the overall benefit package officers receive. Just comparing vacation hours ignores a larger picture, Van Saun said — a bigger picture that officials don’t have.

“The lack of study and comparison of the city’s benefit package with peer cities leads staff to conclude that we cannot recommend an increase in vacation accruals … at this time,” she wrote in the memorandum.

Other money

¢City in Crisis budget series¢ City’s 2004 budget (Powerpoint in html)

There are other issues, but the biggest may be this: Can the city afford to pay the benefits and pay the officers want?

The police union says yes, but it would require creative thinking. The officers commissioned an audit by accountant Ron York of Policepay.net, an Oklahoma City company that performs financial services for police unions nationwide. He analyzed city budgets between 1997 and 2001 for the report.

Instead of paying for salary increases from property and sales taxes, he said, tap the “enterprise funds” — money collected in fees from the city’s water and sewer customers.

This, York said in his report, is the “mother lode.” Water and sewer, along with some other enterprise funds, brought in nearly $10 million in income over expenses in 2001, he said.

“They’re making a lot of money in utilities,” York told the Journal-World, “but they’re reluctant to spend it.”

City officials said York’s audit didn’t include $40 million in debt taken on by the city’s utilities to renovate and expand the wastewater treatment plant. And the audit doesn’t take into account the city’s worsening financial situation in 2002 and 2003, they said.

Besides, officials said, their understanding of state law is that fees collected for water and sewer treatment are to be spent only on those services.

“We’ve never done that,” Wildgen said of paying police from utilities income.

Police union officials pointed out that the proposed 2004 budget shifted portions of the salaries of Van Saun and Finance Director Ed Mullins into the utilities budget — the two oversee some utility functions.

“That’s great in a typical year,” Othick said of keeping utility money for utilities. “This is not a typical year.”

The future

The commission hearing Tuesday is the last opportunity for the police union to win concessions. If commissioners vote with city administrators, police will be forced to work under a contract they dislike for a year.

Officers said they would continue to do their jobs, but that morale would decline.

“I guarantee you, people are already looking” for new jobs, Othick said.

And as officers leave the city for better salary and benefits elsewhere in the area, Ward said, the city will lose experienced officers. “They’re going to lose experience,” he said. “They’re going to lose motivation.”

Van Saun, who has led negotiations on behalf of the city, said cities everywhere were experiencing similar problems. Lenexa is even laying off city employees.

“One thing I’ve been frustrated with is the lack of understanding of how hard we’ve worked to save jobs. The police haven’t lost any jobs,” she said. “Backwards, to me, is losing staff and cutting services.”

The commission meets at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, Sixth and Massachusetts streets.