The councilmembers believe OPD can also increase the number of officers in the field by speeding up Skelly hearings, which officers have to go through when placed on administrative leave before they can return to the job and to determine whether they will face disciplinary action.
In March, there were 149 pending hearings and 42 officers on administrative leave, according to police commission reports. Eleven officers have been on administrative leave for between one and two years, which has cost the department nearly $3 million annually.
The budget also now allocates $10 million more to the Fire Department’s budget to stop a rotating station brownout, which would have continued one of the most controversial budget cuts made in January after the city implemented a contingency budget to make up for unrealized revenue from the stalled sale of the Oakland Coliseum.
For the first time in 20 years, all 25 of the city’s fire stations have been open for the last month. Before that, three stations, including two in the fire-prone Oakland Hills, had been shuttered throughout the year due to the budget cuts.
With the additional funding, the only necessary brownout would be for a three-month period this winter.
The amendments’ impact on labor partners is more of a mixed bag.
While the councilmembers’ proposal would reverse eight layoffs and salary reductions planned across various departments, it also proposes budgeting lower starting salary steps for some city positions, predicted to save about $5 million.
Ramachandran said it’s common for new workers to come into the city making more than the minimum required by Oakland’s deals with labor partners. The amendment requests roles be budgeted based on the salary scales agreed upon, and that new recruits to non-exempt roles not come in at a starting salary that doesn’t exceed a certain step three on the salary scale, Ramachandran said.
The budget also focuses on clean street efforts, sideshow prevention and building up economic zones and new businesses – interests shared by Lee, who took over the office shortly after Jenkins’ proposal was released.
While Jenkins said during his budget briefing last month that Lee had not had much input in the spending plan, Ramachandran said she has been supportive of the council throughout the amendment process.
“The overwhelming majority of her priorities overlap with ours, and she’s being creative on her own on how we can try to seek and obtain money from the outside, which is her area of expertise coming into this process,” said Ramachandran, who frequently sparred with former Mayor Sheng Thao before her recall in November. “This is a process of shared respect, which was glaringly absent under the Sheng Thao administration.”
