Long Beach votes down cops' contract proposal

The Long Beach City Council Tuesday night voted down a proposed contract with the city's police union that would have awarded two years' worth of retroactive raises amounting to nearly 7 percent of officers' salaries.

The vote was the latest development in protracted negotiations that have lasted nearly two years after the expiration of the 77-member union's last contract.

None of the five council members voted for the contract, which was approved April 7 by the members of the union. Three members voted no and two abstained.

Council President Thomas Sofield Jr. and council members John McLaughlin and Mona Goodman voted no on the contract, while Mike Fagen and Len Torres abstained.

Torres and Fagen cited concerns about the city's finances.

"I can't with a clear conscience vote yes at this time," Fagen said. "The question is what the city's finances can bear right now."

McLaughlin said he wanted an arbitrator, who is now required to step in since the council rejected the pact, to decide the terms of the contract.

"Everyone I've spoken to has said, 'Throw the dice and go to arbitration,' " he said.

The council rejection comes after several procedural snags.

Members of the police union, the Long Beach Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, voted against a five-year proposal in December that offered raises between 3.5 percent and 3.85 percent for each year of the contract.

Then, a state-appointed mediator tried to help resolve the deadlock when the two sides declared an impasse.

That mediator recommended the latest version of the contract, which included retroactive raises of 3.5 percent and 3.25 percent to cover July 2008 through June 2010. And police union members approved it on April 7, clearing the way for the city council vote last night.

The Long Beach Police Department is the fourth largest law enforcement force in Nassau County.

With Zachary R. Dowdy