Cloverdale City Council poised to approved raises for police officers, dispatchers

Cloverdale police officers and dispatchers are in line to get a 4 percent pay hike over two years, a wage bump that comes approximately seven years after they received their last cost-of-living increase.

The City Council Tuesday night is poised to approve the two-year contract, which would give police employees an immediate 2 percent pay increase, retroactive to July, and another 2 percent increase in July 2016.

They will also get an added holiday - Martin Luther King Day - under the tentative agreement recommended for approval by City Manager Paul Cayler.

“The council recognized the labor market, especially for public safety” is becoming increasingly hard to keep pace with, according to Cayler. “Our competition with other jurisdictions is increasingly challenging,” he said.

The city has about 10 sworn officer positions and five dispatcher jobs. Cayler said the contract reflects the City Council’s stated goal to negotiate a two-year agreement “that recognizes employees’ sacrifices through a limited salary and benefits adjustment.”

Cumulatively, the recommended increases will cost the city approximately $99,000 more over two years.

The pay increases come as public-employee labor groups are putting increased pressure on local elected bodies and administrators to restore cuts and eliminate pay freezes enacted during the recession and its aftermath. Last month, Sonoma County government’s largest group of unionized civilian employees, ranging from janitors to nurses, staged a three-day strike to lobby for higher pay and more money to help with rising health care costs.

Sheriff Steve Freitas also took to social media in October to push for pay raises for his deputies, saying the budget for his department does not allow him to offer competitive pay, leaving an unprecedented number of deputies to take jobs elsewhere.

Cloverdale employees, including police officers, have had their pay frozen since 2008 when their last cost-of-living increases took effect.

“It goes back quite a way because of the recession and city finances were not in a position to give any raises at all,” City Councilman Joe Palla said Monday of the underlying reasons for the flat pay.

Palla said employees “stepped up to the plate” extending their last several contracts with no pay adjustment. They also made concessions, agreeing to pick up more of their medical costs, as well as retirement benefits, in accordance with new state-mandated pension guidelines.

Cloverdale like many other local governments, has an unfunded pension liability - a shortfall between the value of its investments and the total it must pay future retirees. In the city’s case, the most current calculation of the shortfall is $5.2 million.

But the city is also unusual in that it is one of a about a dozen jurisdictions statewide that funds employee pensions with an added property tax that was approved by voters in 1974 and is adjusted regularly by the City Council.

With its small retail base, limited local employment and relatively low tourist draw, Cloverdale was hard hit during the stubborn economic downturn that took hold around 2008 and forced a 25 percent reduction in city staff over the next several years.

“We are doing better than we were before,” Cayler said Monday, adding that the city is not having to tap meager reserves to meet its expenditures.

“We’re starting to make a little progress,” Palla said.

City Council guidelines call for reserves that are 15 percent of the $5 million general fund, which equates to approximately $750,000.

The current general fund reserves are far less. “We hope to have $70,000 to $100,000 by the end of the fiscal year,” Palla said.

Despite the less-than-robust overall financial situation, Cayler is recommending the 4 percent wage bump for the police and dispatchers and a group representing 10 unaffiliated employees ranging from accountants to a human resources technician and senior planner.

Under the tentative agreement, as of July, 2016, a police officer’s base pay will range between $65,974 to $80,191, depending on experience. A corporal’s base pay will be between $72,789 and $88,476. And a sergeant’s base pay will range from between $79,839 and $97,045.

Palla, a former police chief, said it especially is important to keep police salaries and benefits competitive with comparable jurisdictions.

Cloverdale police salaries, “historically are pretty much at the lower end,” he said.

He said the city has struggled with being a training ground where officers are broken in, only to leave for higher pay and benefits somewhere else.

“If you don’t pay competitive wages, you will lose people and then you’re spending it on a lot of recruiting and not getting the productivity,” Palla said. “It makes sense to pay more and get good people.”

City administrators are still negotiating with a remaining labor group representing public works employees. Altogether, the city has about 49 employees.

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter@clarkmas