When will Mayor Doherty, Director Hayes, or Chief Elliot respond to the constant whinning and crying from the Police Department Union Officials about Cops being laid off. NO Police Officers were laid off, their contract calls for 140 Officers Period. Any additional Police Officers over the contracted 140 would have to be paid some other way ( ie Federal Funding). During the Clinton Presidency, this country was blessed with 1 Million Federally Funded Police Officers, Scranton through GRANTS was awarded several Officers. At the time the Police Union was against any of those Officers working for fear of their Department being suplemented by these PART-TIME Police Officers. After some meetings with then Mayor Connors it was agreed upon to allow the Federally Funded Officers to work, as long as the jobs were posted allowing members of the 140 to bid the various positions. It was also a known fact that these Federaly Funded Police Officers, through the GRANT would move into a perminant position within the 140 as the vacancies became open. These GRANTS were funded for 3-5 years, and then the City had to agree to continue those positions for 1 Year. At the end of the Federal Funding, Mayor Doherty discontinued the hiring of NEW Officers, however he tested several times in an attempt to allow ALL the Officers who were Grant Officers to filter into the 140. This is when the union began Whinning and Crying about the City losing Police Officers, when in fact the City was losing Federal Funding to pay for the those positions. What the Police Union failed to tell the public was that if the Mayor wanted too, he couldn't keep filing the positions without the proper funding because City Council and the City Controller would never have allowed it. The Police Union chose to scare the Public into believing that they have less protection, when in fact they have the same contracted police protection that they have had since the mid 1980's. I can't for the life of me understand why the Public Safety Officials aren't disputing this every time they hear that nonsense. But anyway, now a court has agreed with the Mayor, and he should have the right to make Police Officers work, when the most crime is being committed, not when the Union decides they want to work. The days of the City Unions running the day to day operations are over. If I owned a business and my customer base was between 2PM and 10PM then that is when my employees would be working, but then again I'm just another DUMB voter who pays taxes for my Police Protection, Fire Protection, and Garbage pick-up, so what do I know. I know one thing Mayor Doherty is doing a great job, and I believe he will continue to do a great job for the next 4 years. Do you think this posting would make it on the other web site ? I think not, have a great day, and don't forget to vote next Tuesday.
-- Edited by LusOnlyVoice on Sunday 24th of May 2009 10:29:26 AM
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Just when you thought it was safe to open your mind......
Thank you for the information Taylor and to answer your question ... no I do not think that posting would last very long at all on DD ... but for the short time it did stay ... you would be called all sorts of named .... anyway thanks again for the info ... I found it very informative.
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I want everyone to stop and think about one thing ... Joe Pilchesky is not a lawyer ... he's just a guy playing a lawyer on the internet. Please don't trust your legal needs to this man.
If I was collecting a pension from the city and life time Health care I would think the Mayor was doing a good job too. Comments like that are a slap in the face to fellow union members it is people like this that should be banned from ever belonging to a union
I agree Legion if people are collecting pensions and BLAST there co workers...shame on them...You sign that check from your union pension every two weeks....and don't complain.
Don't worry Legion the mayor will soon have plenty of time to play golf at the country club.
Mr. "Pines", I don't think your information is totally accurate.
Scranton did lay off police officers under the Doherty administration. One was a black cop named Greene, and another was named Marino. I believe there were at least three others. I recall it being in the newspaper at the time, but I can't find the article.
Under the Clinton administration, there were millions in grant money allocated to hire more police protection in cities that qualified. Scranton received grants under the "Cops Ahead" and "Cops Fast" programs. The police hired were not part time; in fact, the grant mandated the officers be hired full time. The departments who benefitted from the grants could not use the new cops to fill existing vacancies. I'm quite sure Old Forge PD ran into trouble for doing just that.
The programs did offer funding for three years for the police, with a mandate that the new hires be absorbed into the ranks for a minimum one year. The funding from the grants paid a portion of a cops salary, not 100% of it.
When Mayor Doherty took over, there were still grants available for police, but the Mayor refused to apply for them, explaining the city could ill afford to continue adding more police to it's compliment of sworn officers. This theory proved wrong however, as the majority of police hired by Cops Fast and Cops Ahead programs were absorbed into the department through vacancies caused by natural attrition. Thus, the city had a ready supply of trained, experienced officers on hand to refill depleted ranks.
As far as the staffing of a fourth police shift, I am certain that many police officers actually wanted to work that shift. The "D-Shift" platoon, that had been implemented for years, was discontinued during the Doherty administration. When it was recently started again, cops volunteered to work the new shift, and no grievances were filed. I don't see how that translates into the union trying to run day to day operations. I see that as them welcoming the news that the city finally acknowleged practices that worked for years before.
Thank you gentlemen/ladies for keeping this debate civil and for the sharing of information. I know nothing of these things so I will not participate but I am reading it all.
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I want everyone to stop and think about one thing ... Joe Pilchesky is not a lawyer ... he's just a guy playing a lawyer on the internet. Please don't trust your legal needs to this man.
-- Edited by LusOnlyVoice on Sunday 24th of May 2009 10:28:10 AM
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I want everyone to stop and think about one thing ... Joe Pilchesky is not a lawyer ... he's just a guy playing a lawyer on the internet. Please don't trust your legal needs to this man.
Holy salary compression Batman...very interesting that there are police at lower ranks making more than the two captains. I get the whole seniority thing, but it seems to me that it's more important to compensate based on job responsibilities than it is to compensate on seniority.
I guess I'll just have to chalk it up the dysfunction that unionization sometimes creates.
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Free Speech does't require a multi-paragrah disclaimer Mr. Pilchesky.
Lus is it at possible and not too much trouble to get that list for 2007 and 2006? The argument has been that there has been no increase in salary for 7 years and that appears to be accurate as far as a "raise" is concerned. However I hear a good deal about this longevity pay and such so my contention is ....if there has in fact been no increase in 7 years those individuals who are with the department during the sample years (2006-07-08 in this case) their salarys should be the same for all 3 years. I would love to be able to compare them to see what the truth really is about this issue.
-- Edited by IHavehadenoughofhaters on Sunday 24th of May 2009 08:14:26 AM
Lus is it at possible and not too much trouble to get that list for 2007 and 2006? The argument has been that there has been no increase in salary for 7 years and that appears to be accurate as far as a "raise" is concerned. However I hear a good deal about this longevity pay and such so my contention is ....if there has in fact been no increase in 7 years those individuals who are with the department during the sample years (2006-07-08 in this case) their salarys should be the same for all 3 years. I would love to be able to compare them to see what the truth really is about this issue.
-- Edited by IHavehadenoughofhaters on Sunday 24th of May 2009 08:14:26 AM
I don't know how to get the numbers, but I do know this is how it works. A cop is hired at 80% of the full rate for one year. After one year, they earn full rate, which was slightly over $40,000.00.
They just got a raise: I think it totalled 7.5 percent. That means a base pay is roughly $43,000.00. That is the raise that covers the past 7 years.
Longevity is accrued at the rate of 1% every two years. If you were a cop for 20 years, you get a maximum of 10% longevity.
As far as the last three years, a cop would have received an additional 1% or maybe 2% raise, depending on how many years they had been working. The total for the 7 years of no contract would be either 3% or 4%.
If you are still following along, they got 7.5% increase ,and some got 4% increase on top of that. That's 11.5% increase for 7 years. It averages to 1.6 - 1.7 percent a year. That doesn't actually match the cost of living.
A cop making $40,000.00 in 2002, now makes $44,600.00 in 2009. Anyone could feel free to research, but I know that is still about $5,000.00 less a year than full time cops in in similar sized departments.
One final note. The longevity pay was eliminated for every cop hired after 2002. That's about 30% of the department.
Thank you Balko. Please know I have no problem with whatever they make...I have respect for the work police and firefighters do....I simply want the truth. I work for a company that has been going through a reorganization as many large corp are so we all have seen no increase in our salaries for going on 2 years now. To me no increase means my salary has remained the same since 2007. If your salary has gone up for whatever reason you got an increase.
Balko you say:
A cop making $40,000.00 in 2002, now makes $44,600.00 in 2009. Anyone could feel free to research, but I know that is still about $5,000.00 less a year than full time cops in in similar sized departments.
If my math is correct that constitues about a 11.5% over 7 years. Which averages out to about 1.6% per year. Not a great increase but an increase nonetheless. Also given the salary scale of this area it is unrealistic to compare us to any other region...if my spouse were working in a different region we would probably be making anywhere from 35% to 50% more than we make now. We would also be putting out in living expenses the same increase so everything is relative. If you want to make what the guy/gal makes in "somewhere else town" go live there if you live here you get "here" salary/wages. I am not being mean I am just stating the facts.
-- Edited by IHavehadenoughofhaters on Sunday 24th of May 2009 10:42:43 PM
(I actually mentioned the 11.5% increase in my post.)
I was talking about Hazleton, PA, and Wilkes Barre, PA. I wouldn't exactly consider either of those towns as financial meccas, yet both police departments have base salaries about five thousand dollars higher than Scranton's.
The 1.6 % increase per year, and 11.5 % overall increase is pretty low. The rate of inflation for the past 7 years (2002 through 2008) is 19.87 %. I'd say that translates into a loss of 8.37 % in buying power. My significant other routinely received yearly COLA's of 4 % to 5%....(until this year) .
Admittedly, I am not armed with too many facts in this debate, as my knowledge of Scranton police is collateral. My argument is fairly limited.
Just to set the record straight, the only COPS that were let go from the grants and not absorbed into the 140 were the ones who could not PASS the test............Mayor Doherty did not want the City to endure another EXAM-SCAM scandal like the last one.... RIght Mr Nelson ????
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Just when you thought it was safe to open your mind......
LOL I guess it would behoove me to actually read an entire post lol lol. And here I was all proud of myself that I figured out the increase percentage LOL.
Taylor Pines wrote: Just to set the record straight, the only COPS that were let go from the grants and not absorbed into the 140 were the ones who could not PASS the test............
How did they hire police in the first place if there wasn't a test? Is/was there some exception to the civil service test if the police ranks fell below a certain number?
Also, I know it's hard to get a true sense of meaning from a printed message, but are you suggesting I'm Nelson Anchorani? (spelling?)
I will let Taylor speak for themself as well but my guess is no that is not what they meant. We often throw out a name like.......Hi Fay....because we know they read the board. Taylor was most likely just giving a shout out to Nelson because of the subject matter.
When Mayor Doherty took over, there were still grants available for police, but the Mayor refused to apply for them,
Last time i checked, the GRANT WRITER in the city budget is a union position, so i don't see how the mayor can apply or refuse to apply. let's just figure that out for a minute........there are several grants out there right now available with federal stimulus money and how many has the grant writer applied for?? i think we already know the answer to that.
let's talk a little more about pay staying at the same rate. over those seven years that there has been no raise, there has also been no additional fees for health insurance, which has skyrocketed in cost. therefore, in the midst of the contract dispute, those involved in the police and fire unions have paid the same amount toward their health care as they did seven years ago. who has been paying the additional health insurance costs? how many of your insurance plans stayed the same, with the same costs, the same copays, for seven years? just curious.
Fatality Risk The table below shows fatality rates for various occupations, including police and firemen. It actually comes from a firehouse.com author, (read it here) and it makes the point that firefighting isn't as dangerous as other occupations in part because firemen aren't in burning building all the time. That noted, I think someone else here correctly noted that more DPW workers have died in Scranton over the past few years than firemen have.
Occupation/Industry
Fatality Rate For 100,000 Employment
Index of Relative Risk
All occupations
4.7
1.0
Timber cutting/logging
128.7
27.4
Fishers
123.4
26.3
Water transportation
94.2
20.0
Aircraft pilots
83.3
17.7
Construction laborers
41.1
8.7
Truck drivers
27.9
5.9
Roofers
27.5
5.9
Farming
27.5
5.9
Firefighters
18.3
3.9
Police
14.0
3.0
Inflation I personally feel that public servants should (if they are performing their jobs at a satisfactory level) receive an annual raise that is equal to the rate of inflation. Over the past 11 years inflation has averaged 2.66% per year. While I'm advocating that, it's important to note that many of us in the private sector have no such guarantee...my raise is determined by the financial health of my employer, my performance, and where my current salary is relative to a market salary range for my job.
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Free Speech does't require a multi-paragrah disclaimer Mr. Pilchesky.
No one is diputing that the cops and firemen don't deserve a raise.. They most certainly do, it has been a long time without any increases, my bitch is with the unions saying Doherty laid off cops,, which he never did.. He never asked for any additional grant officers because he knew the City couldn't afford them, thus resulting in Tax increases or Possible Layoffs...
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Just when you thought it was safe to open your mind......
Don't forget the police salaries listed include court awards. And what is not listed is how much of those salaries espically the one's on top is extra duty which means their salary is paid at a straight rate and is paid by the private companys or people that hire cops for hospital duty etc. Also the city makes money when the private money is paid i believe it is 5.00 goes to the city. Just Remember for all you people complaining about their salaries remember the old saying WORK UNION LIVE BETTER.
Just Remember for all you people complaining about their salaries remember the old saying WORK UNION LIVE BETTER.
I believe I was very specific when I said I have no beef with their salaries....all I asked was for the truth about an increase.... period. I did not say they were or were not intitled to one. I simply wished to know what the truth was about the issue.