HUNTINGTON BEACH : No-Raise, Benefits-Cut Offer Rankles Police

A contract proposal that would give no pay raise and would reduce benefits to police officers has created a potentially volatile situation between the city and the rank and file, union officials said Tuesday.

The police union, which represents about 240 officers and non-sworn Police Department personnel, said that morale is low and that a dozen officers have left or plan to leave because of working conditions, salary and benefits.

The city’s contract offer, meanwhile, is “the kind of proposal that can start to create a no-confidence vote for police chiefs,” said Richard Wright, president of the Huntington Beach Police Officers Assn.

Wright said that talks between the police union and the city are continuing and that a meeting is scheduled for Thursday.

Jim Hanggi, a city spokesman, said Tuesday that Huntington Beach officials will address the police union’s concerns at the negotiating table Thursday.

City officials have said that there is no money in the budget for police raises and that increasing officers’ salaries would be unfair if other city employees get no pay boosts.

“It’s not that we don’t appreciate them, it’s that we don’t have the money to pay them,” Councilman Ralph Bauer said this week. “We’re in the worst recession since the ‘30s, and the money’s not there.”

Mark C. Reid, labor negotiator for the police union, said that among contract proposals by the city are eliminating officers’ ability to accumulate compensatory time off and allowing random drug testing of officers.

“It’s very obvious this City Council has approved to negotiate a proposal that will without question attract lesser-experienced and lesser-quality officers,” Reid said.