Denver officials and the police union must return to the negotiation table after City Council rejected a proposed contract agreement Monday night that would have given officers raises as the city faces massive tax shortfalls and furloughs.
The council has not rejected a union contract proposal in recent memory, if it’s ever happened at all. If city and union officials can’t reach a new agreement, the matter will head to arbitration, where it will be settled by an independent third party.
The vote was 8–5 against the contract, with council members Kevin Flynn, Kendra Black, Jolon Clark, Chris Herndon and Debbie Ortega in support.
The council members in opposition complained about a lack of equity given the financial hit other city employees are taking and blamed the Hancock administration for largely excluding them from the negotiations. Some also noted that they were uncomfortable voting on such a substantial contract before seeing Mayor Michael Hancock’s proposed 2021 budget, which will be released Tuesday.
“We are being asked to vote on something without all of the information in front of us,” Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer said. “We are not dealing with a full deck of cards here … and that is not OK.”
In a statement, Hancock called the decision shortsighted and irresponsible and said it places city employees and services at further risk of layoffs and cuts while showing a “total disregard” for officers willing to share the citywide sacrifice.
“The agreement presented to City Council was the best deal possible on behalf of our taxpayers and the officers who protect them, balancing the sacrifice public servants must make during an economic downturn with our chartered responsibility to public safety,” Hancock said.
The proposal drew criticism even before Hancock passed the final version to council for review, and early this month several members of the council voiced their disapproval of the document.
While the rest of the city’s departments face possible furloughs next year, police are exempt from taking the unpaid days.
City departments across the board have been asked to propose cuts of up to 11% of their budgets and the police union contract would have included $5 million in cuts — out of an estimated $250 million budget — for 2021. But those cuts would have ended with the year, and in 2022 all officers in the union would have received a 2.7% raise at a taxpayer cost of $4.4 million.
Flynn, however, said the proposed contract would have cut officers’ pay in 2021 by about 3% before it’s raised again in 2022. That swap would be the financial equivalent of eight furlough days for officers, he said.
Aside from the financials, there is also some public sentiment against police because of situations in which officers have killed people of color. During a public comment session earlier in the evening, resident Lani Rush asked council to consider the department’s violent history and recent calls from the community to defund police.
Hancock and Public Safety Officer Murphy Robinson — who oversees the police department — have said they’re open to changes within the department, but they will not defund the agency.