The Charlottesville City Council held its first public hearing of the 2005-2006 budget Monday. According to Vice Mayor Kevin Lynch, members of the Charlottesville Police Department made up a sizable portion of the audience because they sought to voice their financial concerns.
"The police are looking for more money this year and looking for more benefits, and they have appealed to City Council," Lynch said. "They would like to be more competitive in the state. Their concerns are mostly related to salary and benefits."
Lynch said Council has done its best to accommodate the Charlottesville Police.
"We've been very generous, maybe not as generous as Fairfax County's, but we are well ahead of most localities and well ahead of anyone in the region," Lynch said.
The 2005-2006 City budget gives police a 12 percent increase, Lynch added.
"The overall budget has gone up 5.5 percent, and the Police Department's budget has gone up 12 percent," he said. "The increase in their department is more than twice the City average -- and it's been for the last several years. It's been substantially higher than the City average."
Lynch said Council cannot fulfill the Police Department's exact financial request.
"To some extent, what we are saying to the Police Department is, 'Yes, we will try to be more competitive as the rest of the state,'" Lynch said. "They were asking for a 20 percent increase this year."
Overall costs that have risen in the City make it impossible to please everyone, Lynch said.
"One of the challenges we have in the City is that retirement costs have gone up," he said. "What most private corporations have done is put cost on employees, but we haven't been doing that. We've been paying for health care and retirement and related causes ourselves. The employees pay some, but we haven't increased their rates this year like many employers have."
Lynch said the public has been misinformed about the Police Department and the City budget.
"There were people at the City Council meeting claiming that we had cut the Police Department," Lynch said. "That's not true."
Lynch said the Department has reduced the number of positions partly because it had 10 open positions for several years.
"Now there are six open positions so that the salary of those six can be increased," he said.
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