Long Beach City council OKs borrowing plan

The lame-duck, Republican-led Long Beach City Council Wednesday night voted along party lines to approve the borrowing of $2.5 million to fund termination pay for three high-ranking police officers and other city employees.

The council also approved, unanimously, the borrowing of $1.75 million to meet the city's last December payroll.

Democratic councilmen Len Torres and Michael Fagen, who will lead the five-member council in January, opposed the termination pay borrowing. Those receiving termination pay include acting Commissioner Thomas Sofield Sr., the father of the current city council president and a 33-year police department veteran, who will receive $500,000. The current city manager, Charles Theofan, will get about $50,000.

"Our workers should be paid, especially during the holidays. But the termination pay should be put on hold until the city has a full financial audit," Torres said at a news conference earlier in the day on the steps of the State Supreme Court in Mineola.

The Democrats sought a court injunction to stop the vote on the $2.5 million for payouts, but failed to get it.

City Council president Thomas Sofield Jr., a registered Democrat who runs as a Republican, said last night that all of the police officers, including his father, earned their payouts, which were set out in union contracts.

Fagen said that the borrowing could "irreparably harm the city."

Long Beach, traditionally a strong Democratic city until nearly a decade ago, lost its GOP leadership in the November elections.

In January, the city council will have four Democrats and one Republican.