Costa Mesa’s Pension Oversight Committee weighs new police contract

Members of Costa Mesa’s Pension Oversight Committee bristled somewhat at a proposed new contract with local rank-and-file police officers that includes a 9% pay increase in the next few years.

But they acknowledged during their meeting Wednesday in City Hall that’s just part of the cost of doing business in a day and age where cities statewide are struggling to recruit and retain police officers.

“For better or for worse, we’re seeing the public safety employees get very good pay increases,” said committee Vice Chairman Ralph Taboada. “Some of it is supply and demand.”

Recruiting qualified officers is a challenge throughout California, said Lance Nakamoto, Costa Mesa’s human resources manager.

“Attracting the officers is only part of the issue,” Nakamoto said Wednesday. “Keeping them here is the most important thing because you invest so much in an individual that to have them leave is very detrimental to the agency.”

Though higher compensation could entice more potential candidates, city officials have already said Costa Mesa police are among the highest paid in Orange County — a fact not lost on some committee members.

“Do you have to be at the top to be competitive?” asked committee member Al Melone. “In my mind, to be competitive you have to be near the middle. It’s like in sports: Whoever wins the Super Bowl, whoever wins the World Series isn’t always the team with the highest payroll.”

The city’s proposed contract with the Costa Mesa Police Assn. includes three raises totaling 9% by 2017.

To offset that, the proposed contract would require officers to contribute 14% of their pay into their pensions — a 5% contribution the officers stopped paying in February 2015 and an additional 9% by 2017.

The agreement also includes various cuts to officers’ vacation and sick hours.

The proposed contract, which covers 127 people, is expected to cost $26.6 million next fiscal year, according to city figures.

All told, the contract is projected to cost taxpayers $1.8 million more through June 2018 compared with the previous agreement, which expired in June 2014.

Costa Mesa’s rank-and-file police officers, who have been working without a contract for more than 600 days, approved the new pact in January. City Council members still have to sign off on the agreement, which they are scheduled to do at their meeting Tuesday.

The Pension Oversight Committee’s discussion on the proposed contract Wednesday was informational only. No votes were taken.