Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper’s administration today laid off 11 sheriff’s deputies to close a mushrooming budget gap caused by the economic downturn and required other sheriff’s employees to take three furlough days this year.
The deputies were informed of the layoffs in a morning meeting with corrections director Bill Lovingier.
The layoffs occurred after the union that represents the deputies rejected the administration’s request that it accept a 2 percent cut in salaries and benefits.
The furloughs are required of deputies, captains and sergeants. The layoffs and furloughs will save the city $1.2 million.
The administration expects that the deputies who are losing their jobs will be competitive for “detention specialist” positions at the jails, which are not law-enforcement positions. Those jobs pay about $10,000 less annually. The deputies also must apply for the positions.
Sheriff’s deputies in Denver staff the jail, while police handle almost all other public-safety and criminal matters.
Jeff Shaw, a deputy sheriff and vice president of the union, said the union plans to mount a legal challenge to the layoffs.
“The deputies that have been terminated, they feel betrayed by the mayor’s office,” Shaw said.
“This is the first time in recent history that they’ve laid off employees in public safety,” Shaw said. “It’s ridiculous.”
He said the union didn’t think concessions were needed this year, considering the city is spending $4.5 million on public art at the new Justice Center complex, has $130 million in general-fund reserves for emergencies and also a $17 million contingency fund.
The public-art expenditure is required by city ordinance.
Shaw said the deputies made concessions worth $2.3 million in 2003, when Hickenlooper took office during a previous downturn. Since then, he said, the union has had to resort to collective bargaining to extract salary increases of 10 percent between 2004 and 2007 and 14 percent for the three-year contract signed last year.
He said that the mayor recently approved using $2.5 million of the contingency money to shore up programs that provide child care to the working poor and helping the homeless.
“For us, it’s a matter of priorities,” Shaw said. “And this mayor, and this mayor’s office, does not have any of their priorities right.”
Kelly Brough, the mayor’s chief of staff, said Hickenlooper already authorized using $12 million of the general-fund reserves to help close a projected $56 million budget gap and wanted to refrain from relying excessively on reserves this year.
“We don’t want to blow the entire reserve in the first year,” Brough said. “We still don’t know how bad this year is going to be.”
She said the city recently learned that sales-tax revenue in January had declined by more than 8 percent compared with January 2008.
“Those numbers cause you to pay attention,” Brough said. “The longer you wait, the more reactive you become, and the harder it becomes to take the steps you have to take.”
Brough said the administration continues to negotiate with the unions that represent police officers and firefighters and hopes those unions will accept 2 percent in salary and benefit cuts. She said she expects those unions to accept or reject the administration’s request either this week or next week.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
