GrovePath wrote:
THINNER BLUE LINE
Cops are included in massive layoff plan

Monday, April 13, 2009
By CARLY BALDWIN
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

HOBOKEN - Six police officers will be laid off and 10 others will be demoted as part of the city's plan to reduce its workforce by 10 percent, officials confirmed last week.

A total of 21 layoffs and 20 demotions, including police and other municipal employees, are scheduled to occur in the next few months, Hoboken Corporation Counsel Steve Kleinman said Friday.

Six patrol officers are losing their jobs while two captains will be demoted to lieutenants, three lieutenants will be demoted to sergeant and five sergeants will be demoted to patrol officers, Kleinman said.

"We are already understaffed by 19 officers right now," said Vince Lombardi, union representative from the Hoboken Police Officers Benevolent Association. "Ten years ago, we used to have at least 20 patrol officers in community policing, now there are five.

"People used to see a cop walking around their four-block radius, now they don't."

These cuts are being made to trim Hoboken's $75 million operating budget. If all the proposed layoffs and demotions are implemented the city would save roughly $1.5 million.

"It is not a pleasant chore and not something that anyone wants to do," said Hoboken's state fiscal monitor Judy Tripodi, who initiated the layoffs. "We have and will continue to work on cutting the budget so that the public safety of the residents will not be compromised."

Cops could be rehired if certain grants come through, Kleinman said.

Other cuts include the demotions of 10 battalion chiefs and captains from the Hoboken Fire Department.

Fifteen additional positions have been targeted for cuts, Kleinman said. Some of those 15 are jobs in the Department of Human Services, one in the city clerk's office and some non-uniformed, civilian positions in the police and fire departments, such as secretaries and clerks.

All told, the cuts add up to just under ten percent of the city's entire municipal workforce of almost 600 total employees, Kleinman said.

"These are not an insignificant amount of layoffs, but they're not massive, either," Kleinman said. "It is the belief of the fiscal control officer that we can provide the same services with fewer personnel and at the same time save taxpayers money."

The affected firefighters and city workers would lose their jobs May 22, and police officers would be out of work on June 20. The firefighters and city employees were notified last week of the layoffs and police officers will get notices this week.

"People have gotten notes that said, 'Your position is being targeted or you may be targeted by someone else whose position is being targeted,'" said Kleinman.

The city is about to enter contract negotiations with its six municipal unions, said Kleinman, noting some cuts might be avoided if union leaders agree to changes in health coverage.