Frustrated Va. Firefighters Push Council for Programs

April 09--Dozens of Richmond police officers and firefighters filled the seats and lined the walls of City Council chambers Monday night to press the council to resume career-development and salary-scale programs that have been frozen for years.

Mayor Dwight C. Jones' roughly $1.37 billion spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1, which includes a $760.5 million general fund, contains a 2 percent across-the-board increase for most city employees, including police and firefighters, though it does not include money to resume the programs.

Officer Stacy Rogers, president of the Richmond Coalition of Police, called on the council to level with the police and firefighters in the room, who punctuated the speakers' remarks with raucous applause during Monday night's hearing on the proposed budget.

"It's either going to be there or it's not going to be there," Rogers said of the programs, asking the council to avoid continuously punting the issue down the road as it has for the past several years.

Rogers said the salary-step increases, which have been frozen since 2009, give police and firefighters 2.5 percent raises each year, with bigger bumps at 15, 20 and 25 years. The career-development programs make firefighters and officers eligible for 5 percent increases if they complete certain training programs. That program has been halted since 2010.

"They should at least be honest with the men and women here," Rogers said of the council in an interview outside the chambers. "Should they stay, or should they look for a job somewhere else?"

Rogers said 27 young officers left the city for other law enforcement jobs last year. Each one cost city taxpayers $100,000 to train, he added.

"That's $2.7 million that walked out the door," Rogers said.

Richmond firefighter Mike Anderson said many firefighters work other jobs to make ends meet, and he criticized the council and city administration for failing to honor the plans they put in place.

"We deserve what you promised in 2006," Anderson said.

Richmond Chief Administrative Officer Byron Marshall said guaranteeing a one-step increase for all police and firefighters would cost nearly $2 million more than the 2 percent across-the-board increase the city included in the budget, which the council will vote on in May.

Several police officers and firefighters characterized the failure to reinstate the programs as a breach of faith with crucial public safety employees.

"The public employees of this city are losing, or have lost, hope," said Tony Paciello, vice president of the Richmond Coalition of Police.

In a rally before Monday night's meeting, a handful of residents called on the council to continue to work to lower water and wastewater bills for city utility customers despite a new rate structure the city administration has put forward as part of the pending budget.

Jones' administration says the new structure, which will cut water and wastewater base charges in half but roughly double the charge that users pay per unit of water, will result in reduced bills for half of the city's residential customers.

The advocates, some of whom have called for lower water charges for years, said cutting the base charges for water and wastewater -- which now total $49.40 a month before usage is added -- a good start. However, they note that it will result in higher bills for many city customers and fails to address the payment-in-lieu-of-taxes the gas, water and wastewater utilities make to the city's general fund.

The city's utilities are expected to contribute $23.8 million to the general fund next year, up from more than $22.1 million this year, which critics call a "cash cow" on the backs of utility customers.

"It's no good," said Rhonda Hening-Davis, a member of the Richmond not-for-profit Alliance for Progressive Values. "It's a little bit deceitful to tell people you're going to lower the service charge and not mention that you're increasing the volume rate."

Scott Burger, a member of the Better Government for Richmond watchdog group, called the cut in base charges "laudable" but the increase in volume charges "despicable."

City Council President Charles R. Samuels, 2nd District, wouldn't offer a full assessment of the rate structure.

"It's a step in the right direction," Samuels said. "It needs thorough vetting by the public and this council."

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