Ordinance would extend officer benefits if police labor contract expires

City Council will consider an ordinance Thursday that would preserve the current police labor contract’s provisions for officer pay and benefits, even if the contract expires without a successor in place, after the Austin Police Association said it wouldn’t negotiate a one-year labor contract extension with the city. 

“(L)et me be clear – this is not a better outcome than a one-year agreement with the police association,” Mayor Kirk Watson wrote on the City Council Message Board Friday. “It would be better for everyone if they would return to the negotiating table now, but if they do not then we must pass this ordinance to maintain effective recruiting and retention of officers.”

Council voted last week to direct staff to pursue an extension as an alternative to the four-year tentative agreement reached by the two bargaining teams, citing the May election, which includes two opposing propositions related to police oversight. 

But with APA reportedly refusing to return to the negotiating table and several Council members saying they prefer to let voters weigh in before locking the city into a long-term contract, it seems likely that the two parties could fall out of contract when the current agreement expires March 31. 

APA President Thomas Villarreal did not respond to a text request for comment. 

The ordinance, sponsored by Council Member Ryan Alter and co-sponsored by Watson and Council members Alison Alter and José Velásquez, also would expand the authority of the city’s Office of Police Oversight, allowing it to investigate anonymous complaints by residents and police officers. 

“Falling out of contract is not something any of us want, but we have tools at our disposal to reduce the harms it produces,” Ryan Alter replied on the message board. 

If the current contract expires with no replacement or stopgap in effect, APD officers stand to lose certain pay and benefits codified in the agreement, which could exacerbate long-standing staffing shortages, whereas the city stands to lose certain oversight provisions.

But civilian oversight of police already took a hit when APA filed a grievance in 2020 alleging the city’s Office of Police Oversight had violated the contract by investigating complaints against police officers. The following year, an arbitrator sided with the police union, dismantling OPO’s authority to investigate allegations of police misconduct. 

Chris Harris, president of Equity Austin and policy director of the Austin Justice Coalition, welcomed the ordinance’s “very important and meaningful step” to expand OPO’s authority. But he also raised concerns.

“Our biggest issue is that it really needs to have some deadline under which the police association is incentivized to return to the table so that the city can restore more fair promotion practices as well as what it can – and hopefully what the voters will approve – with regard to oversight,” he told the Austin Monitor. 

Harris and others questioned APA’s opposition to a one-year contract extension, saying it would benefit officers more in terms of pay than the four-year tentative agreement or the ordinance on Thursday’s agenda. The extension would tie an across-the-board base wage increase to cost-of-living changes, which city staffers have estimated at 6.7 percent. The four-year tentative agreement includes a 14 percent raise over four years, with a 4 percent raise slated for the first year, and the current contract has enacted a 2 percent raise each of the last three years. 

“It makes it seem to me that the only explanation is that they don’t want to hear from the voters,” Harris said.

All of the pressure being applied by the Austin Police Association against the City Council right now is b/c they want Council to approve a 4-year deal rather than a 1-year extension.

This is entirely b/c they don’t want more oversight & has nothing to do w/ pay or safety.

— Chris Harris (@chrisharris101) February 20, 2023

Council Member Chito Vela also emphasized the financial incentives on the table.

“It’s unfortunate the Austin Police Association leadership decided to stop contract negotiations,” he tweeted Thursday. “I remain open to a one-year extension that improves pay and benefits for our hardworking police officers.” 

But a one-year contract extension seems unlikely, and Ryan Alter’s ordinance dangles the possibility of more time, which would allow Council to consider the results of the May election, whose ballot includes two Austin Police Oversight Acts. 

The first, spearheaded by political action committee Equity Action, would strengthen civilian oversight of APD, going beyond what the city’s bargaining team has achieved with the four-year tentative agreement.

Harris said this APOA would allow OPO to: 

• Accept anonymous complaints from residents as well as from police officers
• Conduct a preliminary review of any complaints without restriction
• Release nonbinding recommendations on discipline, which facilitates transparency

It also would safeguard OPO’s investigative authority, among other provisions.

The second APOA is the product of the APA-funded PAC Voters for Oversight and Police Accountability. Although it uses the same language as Equity Action – which has prompted allegations of fraud – it would weaken oversight when compared with the current contract.

Several Council members and dozens of Austinites expressed their desire to let voters weigh in before locking the city into a long-term contract, which would prevent the prevailing ballot measure from taking effect until 2027 or later.

“I think we have to check in with the voters before we do anything else,” Vela said at the Feb. 15 Council meeting. “And if the voters of Austin give us the direction and say, ‘You know what? We do want to lead the nation in police accountability and oversight,’ then so be it. We have our marching orders, and we’ll go out and get it done again.”

But others, including District 10 Council Member Alison Alter and some city staff, have expressed reservations about the feasibility of Equity Action’s APOA and the cost of a one-year extension given state laws, including one that prevents cities from reducing their police budgets.

“Our legal department has argued that the passage of a petition will not immediately result in strengthened oversight because many of the oversight provisions are required by state law to be ratified by APA in a contract,” she said at the Feb. 15 Council meeting. “So negotiating for a one-year contract does not guarantee us strengthened police accountability. From my perspective, it does guarantee that we will end up spending more money on APD.”

Harris acknowledged that some of the Equity Action APOA provisions can’t be implemented outside of a contract agreed to by APA. But he said these concerns are a red herring, given that the ordinance also prevents Council from considering a tentative agreement that doesn’t comply with its requirements. 

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