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NewsBrookfield may cut two cops, impose food tax and sticker fee hike By James Pluta If a contract settlement is not reached between the Brookfield Village Board and its unionized police officers by the end of this week, two officers will be laid off on April 1. The potential layoffs, which the affected officers were informed of Feb. 16, are part of an overall spending reduction in the village’s annual budget. The officers have the least amount of seniority. Such cuts may be avoided, it seems, if the village gets its way and does not have to spend more money on staff costs — including pay raises — in the coming year or two. If the two officers are terminated, the village could save more than $100,000 in salary and benefit costs, and Police Chief Steven Stelter has promised patrol operations will remain unchanged. When Lyons proposed cutting just one officer last year, residents and cops came out in droves to protest the budget move, and a similar show of force may be expected at the next meeting in Brookfield scheduled for Monday, March 8. The next contract negotiation session is set for the morning of Friday, March 5 between the village and Lodge 38 of the Fraternal Order of Police, which represents both patrol officers and sergeants on the force. The last negotiations took place Feb. 17. An FOP statement dated Feb. 19 and obtained by The Desplaines Valley News last week, raised issue with the village’s recent claim of "financial woes" and claim the department is already understaffed. "Despite its concerns, the union has engaged in discussions with the village and has offered concessions, including a wage freeze, in order to assist the village with any purported financial difficulties it is experiencing," the statement read. The village has already reached agreements with Public Works, clerical staff and the Fire Department not to raise salaries in the coming year, but not the Police Department. The now-expired two-year police union contract was approved in December 2008 after a long debate about shift schedules that ended up being resolved through arbitration. Officers wanted to keep 12-hour schedules, but arbitration officer determined the village was in the right to impose employee schedules, an action which resulted in 8-1/2-hour shifts instead. Food & beverage tax, vehicle sticker fee hikes on the table In related budget discussions, trustees are braced to increase passenger vehicle sticker fees to $40 from the current $25 and impose a 1 percent restaurant tax, as well as a first-ever fee of $200 or more per permit for religious and nonprofit organizations who request temporary liquor licenses for special events. The moves, if approved by the Village Board on March 8, would generate a quarter-million dollars per year. The sticker increase, proposed last week, is already included in the budget passed two months ago and is a given unless the estimated $150,000 in revenue it may generate can be raised by other means. The restaurant tax, which the state allows non-home rule municipalities to implement in .25 percent increments, would impact food and beverage purchases at restaurants, coffee shops, bars and even Brookfield Zoo. |
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