BREAKING: Mayor Cuts Police Wages

Mayor Richard Berry continued the cost cutting at City Hall on Friday with a 2.41 percent wage reduction for police officers.

The announcement came after the mayor said he had reached a “stalemate” with the police union on negotiations to come to some other agreement. Berry imposed a similar pay cut on firefighters and non-union employees earlier this week.

Talks with the AFSCME unions that represent blue collar and other workers are ongoing.

I’ll have more in tomorrow’s paper, but I’ve pasted the mayor’s news release below.

Mayor Richard J. Berry implemented a wage reduction Friday for all
members of the Albuquerque Police Officers’ Association after a stalemate
was reached in the negotiation process.

“This decision was not easy,” Mayor Berry said. “People need to
understand, in no way is this a reflection on the quality of officers who work tirelessly
for our city and this community. This is a sign of tough fiscal times.”

Under the wage reduction, all police union members will receive a 2.41-percent
reduction in salaries. Additionally all police union employees will be paying
20 percent of their health insurance instead of 17 percent. These changes will
be implemented during the first full pay period of this year and will be reflected
on the July 23 pay checks. The wage reduction will save $2 million.

Even with the pay reduction, on average, Albuquerque
police officers are still making 5.1 percent more than they did when Mayor Berry took office in
December. On Jan. 1, Mayor Berry
signed a 7.5-percent pay increase for police union members.

On Thursday, Mayor Berry
announced a similar wage reduction for the fire union and implemented a sliding
scale for the city’s non-union employees in which the highest paid would receive
a 3.5-percent wage reduction. The 2.47-percent wage reduction for the fire
union was implemented after a stalemate was reached with the Albuquerque Area
International Association of Firefighters Local 244.

Under a budget that was approved by the City Council last month and
signed by Mayor Berry,
$8 million in wages must be trimmed. The budget was trimmed to make up for a
potential $66 million shortfall. The Berry Administration has been in negotiations
with the city’s seven labor unions for several months. Negotiations are
still continuing with the five American Federation of State County and
Municipal Employees unions.