METHUEN — Twenty city officers will be out of work July 1 unless the police union comes up with a way to save $1 million, Mayor William Manzi said last night.
"We have to balance our budget," Manzi said during an interview before last night's City Council meeting. "Those layoffs will happen. They are real. I think some people think they are not real or the budgetary situation is not grim. I can assure you that both those ideas are incorrect."
Manzi said he has reached one-year agreements with seven of the city's nine municipal employee unions.
He has a "tentative" agreement with the firefighters union, meaning the only union that has not reached a deal with him is the police patrolmen's union.
The 20 officers have already received pink slips, Manzi said. The only way they won't be laid off, he said, is for patrolmen to come up with about $1 million in savings within their union, and the mayor has to agree on the savings.
Manzi had asked all the unions to take a 10 percent cut in base pay for a year and give up longevity for a year.
The patrolmen have so far declined the pay cut.
"How much would you want to get paid to carry a gun and put on a bullet-proof vest every day to go to work?" Officer Dan O'Connell asked City Councilors before receiving a standing ovation from the crowd in City Hall attending last night's public hearing on the city budget.
O'Connell is one of the officers who received a layoff notice.
The Police Department has 64 patrol officers now, according to police Chief Katherine Lavigne.
Manzi said two weeks ago that if unions didn't take a 10 percent base pay cut and give up their longevity for a year, 40 to 45 employees, including nine police officers, would be laid off.
But seven unions found ways to spare jobs by taking cuts in pay and benefits.
"We brought back every layoff in the city, except for the patrolmen's union," Manzi said.
"No one's happy to give up money," said Vinnie Graziano, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees local, which represents workers in many city departments. "But we made a decision."
Manzi also reached a deal with AFSCME, sparing the jobs of two civilian workers at the police station, so he made up the difference by adding two more layoffs to the patrolmen's union, resulting in his plan to eliminate 20 cops.
City management, including Manzi himself, took 10 percent pay cuts.
Also last night, city councilors unanimously voted against the School Department's $57.6 million budget, which hasn't even been approved by the School Committee yet.
"To me, it's a top-heavy budget," said Councilor Jennifer Kannan.
Councilor Kenneth Willette Jr. said school administrators should take pay cuts.
"The budget we got from the School Committee is horrible as far as the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer," said Councilor Joseph Leone.
The City Council cannot change the school budget, all they can do is approve or disapprove it. Without the council approving the school budget, City Auditor Thomas Kelly said he will have no authority to pay School Department workers beginning July 1.
"You would essentially be out of business," Manzi said.
Council Chairwoman Deborah Quinn said after the meeting that the point of voting against the school budget was to send a message to school officials.
"We can vote again," she said.
The School Committee is scheduled to vote on the school budget June 29. The City Council has yet to vote on the city budget. The council recessed last night's meeting until 9 a.m. Saturday.
