(March 8) SAN BERNARDINO –Despite the consideration that the city of San Bernardino is in bankruptcy, on Monday the city council conferred a net of nearly $1 million in salary increases on police officers and firefighters.
The council was constrained under the terms of the city charter to provide the raises. The San Bernardino Municipal Charter, which can be altered only through a vote of the city’s residents, dictates, under its Section 186, that police and fire department pay is to be determined by averaging the pay provided to similar positions in ten California cities with  populations between 100,000 and 250,000. Those ten cities are selected by a process in which all California cities in that population range are considered and the union eliminates from the list the lowest paying municipalities and a city management representative eliminates the highest paying cities until the ten from which the average is taken are determined.
Several residents in attendance at the Monday, March 3 meeting were critical of the raises, asserting the city’s dire financial condition that has led to its bankruptcy makes those raises unseemly and typifies the council’s poor stewardship of the municipal treasury.
Council members, however, were reminded by city attorney James Penman that their hands were tied by the city charter and they voted 5-2 to approve the increases for rank-and-file police and firefighters, with council members Fred Shorett and Virginia Marquez lodging the dissenting protest votes.
Accordingly, 162 police officers will see a 2.06 percent or $146 per month increase and will now be paid between $5,118.80 per month and $7,252.50 per month, depending on seniority. Forty-four detectives and corporals will receive a 1.11 percent or $90.20 per month increase and will now be paid between $6,465.40 per month and $8,198.20 per month, depending on seniority. The department’s 39 sergeants will receive a 1.99 percent or $182.60 per month increase and will now be paid between $7,399 per month and $9,372.60 per month.  The pay increases for police officers, detectives, corporals and sergeants will cost the city $34,823.20 per month.
In the case of the police officers, corporals, detectives and sergeants, the salaries were based upon the average paid to comparable positions in the police departments in the cities of Concord,  Norwalk, Fontana, Oceanside,  Fullerton, Oxnard, Irvine, Palmdale, Lancaster and Santa Clarita.
The salary paid to law enforcement trainees will remain at $4,095.04 per month ($23.63 per hour), which is 80 percent of the lowest grade of pay for a police officer.
Adding annual fringe benefits and other salary-driven costs which rise with salary increases such as the state public employee retirement system contributions, unemployment and Medicare, the total increased general fund cost for salaries and benefits for the police officers, corporals, detectives and sergeants for fiscal year 2012/13 is $561,821; overtime costs are estimated to be $101,238, for a projected fiscal year 2012/13 increase of $663,059.
In determining the raises to be provided to the rank and file firemen, the city relied upon the average salaries provided to firefighters in  Daly City, Orange, Elk Grove, Pasadena, Garden Grove, Roseville, Huntington Beach, Salinas, Irvine, and Vallejo, the last of which has also declared bankruptcy.
The city’s three basic firefighters who do not have paramedic certification will get a one percent or $70.50 per month raise to $5,635.40 per month to $7,133.50 per month, depending on seniority. The department’s 39 paramedics will get a .91 percent or $72 raise to $6,386.90 per month to $8,003 per month, depending on seniority. The department’s 42 engineers will see a .54 percent or  $42.90 raise to $6,403.90 to $7,929.90 per month, depending on seniority. The department’s 42 investigators and captains, who are paid at a flat rate regardless of seniority, will receive a .83 percent or $74.60 raise to 9,111.60 per month across the board.
These raises will run the city $7,954.50 more per month.
The firefighter trainee salary will be set at $4,508.32 per month ($26.01 per hour), which is 80 percent of the pay for a beginning firefighter.
Adding fringe benefits and other salary driven costs, the total increased general fund cost for salaries and benefits for the fire safety unit for fiscal year 2012/13 is $135,029; overtime costs are estimated to be $166,615, for a projected fiscal year 2012/13 increase of $301,644.
Mayor Patrick Morris, a former Superior Court judge who in his role on the council does not have the power to vote except to break a tie or to form a quorum, is the city’s most outspoken opponent of Charter Section 186.  Calling salaries for the city’s safety employees “our most expensive single item,” Morris said it is contrary to common sense to be increasing the pay of already well remunerated municipal employees, “particularly in times of bankruptcy and insolvency.”
While Morris, Marquez and Shorett opposed the raises, council members Robert Jenkins and John Valdivia, both of whom were elected with strong fire and police union support, strongly supported the pay upgrades, endorsing Penman’s statements that the city needs to remain competitive in its salaries to attract quality employees, despite the city’s bankruptcy.
The council held off on scheduled votes with regard to salary adjustments for the police and fire departments’ management employees. The same formula as is involved in setting police officer and firefighter pay is used in those cases. For the higher ranking police management and all of fire management, however, those employees are due for pay decreases under the formula.
In determining the rate of remuneration to be paid to the police department’s lieutenants, captains, assistant chief and chief, an average of the pay provided to similar positions with the cities of Costa Mesa, Pomona, Fullerton, Roseville, Hayward, Ventura, Huntington Beach, Sunnyvale, Murrieta and Thousand Oaks was used.
By the terms of the formula, the department’s nine lieutenants are due to get a yet-to-be-granted   10.18 percent or $1,120.49  per month pay increase from $11,011.00 to  $12,131.49. The department’s four captains are in line to receive a 2.48 percent or $328 per month raise from $13,229.00 to  $13,557.00 per month.
Both assistant chief  Ernest Lemos and police chief Robert Handy are being called upon to accept pay cuts. Lemos will see his $16,096 per month salary dwindle by 2.74 percent or 441.32 per month to $15,654.68. Handy will take an even more substantial 10.66 percent or $2,107.40 per month hit, seeing his monthly remuneration drop from $19,775.00 to $17,667.60.
Overall the police management unit salaries will increase by $8,847.69 per month.
Adding annual fringe benefits and other salary-driven costs, the projected increased general fund cost for salaries and benefits for the police management unit for fiscal year 2012/13 is $137,997.
The salary adjustments made to the fire management group were based upon salaries to similar occupations in Burbank , Orange, Costa Mesa, Pasadena, Daly City, Rialto, Garden Grove, Ventura, Ontario, and Torrance.
Throughout the fire management ranks, salaries are scheduled to be decreased.
In the case of the department’s six battalion chiefs, they are supposed to be reduced in pay by .33 percent or $40.70 per month from $12,158 to $12,117.30 per month.  The deputy fire chief’s position would be subject to a 2.15 percent or $315.50 decrease monthly from $14,662 to  $14,346.50.  The pay for fire chief, a currently unfilled position being manned by the deputy fire chief, will diminish 2.26 percent or $380.10 monthly from $16,784 to $16,403.90, if the council determines to live up to Section 186 of the city charter.