Thursday, September 8, 2011

Voluntary severance for police

It's a curious position, no layoffs but cut staff costs -- but with police morale as low as it is I bet plenty of police will take a package.

Here's the trouble, when politicians say that they can save money without cutting services -- they are, at best, wrong:

http://bit.ly/pmF1pU

In an effort to avoid layoffs, the Toronto police board is considering a voluntary severance package for hundreds of mid-ranking officers, say sources.

This is on top of the 18 packages that were offered to a select number of inspectors and staff superintendents in July.

The exact number is still unclear, but one official said that combined with attrition, the buyout was aimed at “getting to (Chief Bill) Blair’s target” without handing police personnel pink slips.

In a confidential report to the board in July, Blair said as many as 750 uniform officers and 400 civilians would need to be laid off in order to hit Mayor Rob Ford’s 10 per cent budget reduction demand.

...

The Toronto police net operating budget is about $915 million, 85 per cent of which is salary and benefits. The mayor has told Blair to find roughly $90 million in cuts; a task the chief says is impossible without eliminating officers.

The mayor has repeatedly said he does not intend to layoff police officers, yet his administration has held firm on its budget cut demand.

It’s a paradoxical position Ford most recently reiterated Monday, telling CityTV “We’re not cutting libraries or police” but also “We’re asking all the departments for 10 per cent efficiencies” and that it’s “up to the chief” how that’s done.

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