Police pension change proposed

The six members of the Omaha City Council spent the weekend talking on their cell phones, hashing out last-minute details for an overhaul of the mayor’s proposed police union contract.

After the weekend calls and small group meetings last week, the council members stood together at a press conference Monday to lay out their contract proposal. The council’s changes would, among other things, require police to put more of their paychecks into the troubled police and fire pension fund.

Council President Garry Gernandt, a retired Omaha police officer, called the work of the council a “historic moment,” saying he could not remember a time when members had reached a consensus on revisions to a union contract proposal.

Gernandt said the council went into emergency talks after a public hearing last Tuesday, when public sentiment ran overwhelmingly against the mayor’s proposed contract.

On Friday and Monday, a total of 281 people called council offices about the contract. Of those, 271 opposed the contract. Only 10 people expressed support for it.

In addition, it looked as if the council was going to vote down the contract, if a vote had been held as scheduled Tuesday.

Councilman Ben Gray, a supporter of the mayor’s contract, said he knew he had to be open to compromise.
“I knew it was going to fail,” he said. “I didn’t want to risk a ‘no’ vote.”

In a statement Monday, Suttle said that he had no objection to any of the council’s changes, “so long as they prove to be legal and fair to both parties.”

“I have sought to build a favorable consensus that proves that Omaha does have the political will to solve our financial crisis,” Suttle said. “I have also sought to protect the interest of Omaha taxpayers while being fair to the men and women of the Omaha Police Department.”

Officer Aaron Hanson, president of the police union, said Monday that the union appreciates the efforts of the City Council.

“In order to find resolution, they need to continue to be engaged in joint problem solving,” Hanson said.

However, he said, he was “extremely disappointed that they chose this very public method of initiating their changes. This difficult challenge will not be solved through headlines. It will be solved through tough, private, good-faith negotiations.”

Gernandt said that the council would not “negotiate in the media” but that council members had to announce their changes to allow the information to reach taxpayers.

Hanson said he needed to hear more about the council’s changes before he could comment further.
David Nabity, a spokesman for the Omaha Alliance for the Private Sector, which has been an outspoken critic of the proposed contract, said Monday that the City Council was “moving things in the right direction.”

“It shows the council is listening to the citizens,” Nabity said.

City Clerk Buster Brown said it was the first time in his memory that a council had united to make such major changes to a police contract.

Councilman Franklin Thompson said Monday that he agrees with the changes proposed by his colleagues but plans to propose others as well, including a higher retirement age.

The council announced several proposed changes Monday, including revisions to the way pensions are calculated. One provision would calculate new recruits’ pensions on base pay only.

The council’s changes would ensure that most officers retire with pensions that are lower than their pay while working, said Councilman Pete Festersen.

Festersen and his five colleagues said their proposal was written with the public in mind.
“Taxpayers will not be paying for spiking going forward,” said Festersen.

Suttle has said that approval of his proposed police contract would end spiking, a practice that has allowed police and firefighters to boost their pension payments by working extra hours in their final years on the job.

However, some council members have said that police, not taxpayers, should shoulder more of the burden to pay for past spiking.

Council members made it clear that the public was driving much of their efforts, including the proposal that police officers contribute more to the pension crisis. The police and fire pension fund faces a long-term shortfall that has been estimated at $500 million

“We heard what the public was saying,” Gernandt said.

Councilwoman Jean Stothert said the council also decided that it could not simply reject the contract put forth by Suttle, without offering an alternative.

“We just couldn’t vote ‘no,’ ” said Stothert.

Council members said they hope both the mayor and the police union will carefully consider their proposal.
It is “fair, legal and reasonable,” said Gernandt.

The council is scheduled to vote Tuesday to approve its changes. A final vote on the overall contract will be postponed until April 13, at the earliest, so the police union can look at the council’s proposals, recommend possible changes and put them to a vote by union members.

If the union agrees to the council’s ideas, all six members are likely to sign off on the contract, Gernandt said.

World-Herald staff writer Robynn Tysver contributed to this report.

« Metro/Region

Share