By Joseph D. Bryant
Birmingham News (Alabama)
The Birmingham City Council voted 7-1 Tuesday to override Mayor Bernard Kincaid’s veto of a 15 percent raise for police and fire workers. But the mayor said he will ask a judge to make a final decision.
Council members say they are prepared to fight.
“If he files an action against us we will vigorously defend our vote,” said Council President Carole Smitherman.
The raise would give the city’s police and firefighters — whose pay starts lower than that of their counterparts in nearby suburban cities — a gradual increase of 5 percent a year beginning in fiscal 2008. Kincaid called the raise approved by the council Sept. 26 fiscally unsound and unfair to other employees.
“No person on this Earth wants raises for police and fire more than this mayor,” Kincaid said.
But he said raises must be the result of a study to determine a fair amount — and that raises must be shared by other departments.
“You have not heard one time . . . how much this is going to cost,” Kincaid said.
The mayor also said that the council overstepped its authority by asking the Jefferson County Personnel Board to change police and fire salaries. He contends that only the mayor can make that request.
Both city attorney Tamara Johnson and J. Richmond Pearson, the council’s legal adviser, have recommended asking a judge to rule on which branch has authority to set and change salaries.
Kincaid said legal action must be taken before the Personnel Board makes a decision. Under board rules, if an item is not acted on within 30 days, the item becomes law.
Councilman Joel Montgomery, chairman of the public safety committee who wrote the resolution asking for the raises, said the council put public safety above political pressure from the mayor.
“This is not going to solve the whole crime problem, but it’s a start,” he said. “This is a piece of a giant pie.”
Police and fire union leaders say Birmingham loses experienced police officers and firefighters to surrounding cities that offer higher pay and less hazardous duty.
Montgomery said he’s not surprised by the threat of litigation.
“This is about winning and losing to him with no regard to the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of this city,” Montgomery said. “He puts the citizens on the back burner when it comes to winning and losing.”
Kincaid’s veto was the second he had issued on measures passed by the current council, which took office in 2005, and the first that the current council has overridden.
“We were able to put people above the Mayor-Council Act and work for the betterment of our constituents, and that’s what were charged to do,” Smitherman said.
The vote to override the veto came after nearly two hours of debate during which some council members changed their position on the issue, delivering more than the six votes needed to override.
Council members Steven Hoyt and Miriam Witherspoon initially agreed with Valerie Abbott that the council should accept the veto, study pay discrepancies compared to other cities and form a plan to make up the difference.
Abbott, who originally voted against the raises, said she was not against pay increases, but could not support them without evidence.
Kincaid had asked the council to rescind the raises and work with him on a study for possible raises next year.
Both Hoyt and Witherspoon said their vote changed when Montgomery promised to abandon his quest for raises if an independent analyst was unable to find the money in the city’s budget. Montgomery said he made that vow because he’s confident the city has money to support a pay increase.
Abbott was again the lone vote against the raises. She said she took her stand based on the facts, not emotion.
“What does she think that I’ve been doing up here,” said Montgomery, who frequently votes against council initiatives. “I’ve been labeled as ‘Dr. No,’ now you tell me who’s got the guts?”
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WHAT HAPPENED
The City Council, on a 7-1 vote, overrode Mayor Bernard Kincaid’s veto of a 15 percent pay raise for police and firefighters.
WHAT IT MEANS
The raise request goes to the county Personnel Board for adoption unless, within 30 days, the mayor asks a judge to block the request.