South Lake Tahoe city budget fight looms large; layoffs eminent

As an early snowstorm descended on South Lake Tahoe the first week of October, the continuing winter of economic discontent looks bleak for the city’s budget woes and employees facing layoff. Seventeen positions are still on the chopping block. At least half of those positions are linked to street maintenance and snow removal operations. While negotiations between the bargaining units and the city continue to be held, there is a hint of an impasse — while the city functions on only an interim budget until the end of the month.

The next special meeting to work on and possibly approve the budget has now been tentatively moved to October 18, said mayor pro tem Claire Fortier.
“We’ve done so because the staff is still in the process of going through suggestions and checking the information,” she said.  ”It’s quite a process.”

Since the full-house City Council meeting of September 15, when the first budget proposal was made public to large outcry, both council and city administrative offices have received more than their fair share of input from citizens. The process is ongoing, and while Fortier expects there to be some differences in the final product, she adds nothing is going to be the magic fix.
“I don’t think anybody knew how dire this was going to be, really.” Fortier said. “From the start we knew we had a problem, so we started early with the 5-Year Plan, and the economy has just been so much worse than we expected.”
She emphasizes that economic situations for everyone right now are dire, for individuals as well as government on all levels. And that the whole process of looking at the budget and the city’s priorities has really shaken the whole community.
Regarding the speculation that some have taken to blaming City Manager Tony O’Rourke for the budget issues, she is stalwart in her support for him.
“He’s a guy who has a vision for this town, and he knows what needs to be done to get there,” Fortier said. “He’s got an idea of how to do it differently, and it’s not just his, it’s collaboration.”
Fortier explains that any local who has been here for a while has seen the city’s opportunities come and go over time. She lauds the concept of trying a new direction for a change.
“This is a different vision,” she adds. “It’s about how we get out of this and how we choose what we will look like when we get there.”

On more than one occasion during the initial budget presentation the city finance director said 65 percent of the General Fund went to employee costs. The city emphasized that the goal was to reduce this percentage above all else. On request, the city financial office provided a breakout of these costs, over pensions, healthcare, salaries, etc. They also provided breakout information about salaries by department and classification. However, when asked to give the specific number of employees in those classifications - for the actual ratio of people to costs - they declined on the grounds that the numbers provided were from the projected budget and since the number of actual layoffs is yet to be determined, those numbers are off limits.

Layoff Pain
Seventeen possible layoffs is the current count given by Steve Crouch of Local #39.  He has been coming to Tahoe at least twice a week to continuing negotiation sessions. His outlook is still about 50-50 between achieving a positive outcome or having to do battle with the city.
“We are the only ones (whose contract is) open right now, while everyone else still has one to two years left on their contract,” Crouch said. “Whatever we agree to, they will transfer to the other units, so we have to think of them too.”
According to Crouch, City Attorney Patrick Enright hinted at an impasse at their last negotiation meeting. Days later, he received a letter from Enright, actually stating the probability in black and white. The parties are nowhere near an impasse, Crouch said. Twenty proposals are still on the table and have yet to be vetted, and the process of mediation and resolving an impasse is very strict and detailed.
“I keep telling them we can do this the easy way or the hard way, he added. “But it can change in a moment.”
He feels a sense of urgency on the part of the city, and he notes having budget and contract deadlines occur at the same time is unusual for such a small town. Unfortunately, he adds, this also leads to an environment of discomfort for employees in the meantime.
“The toxic environment that has been created over the last year, people are fearful about their jobs, fearful of reprisal,” Crouch said. “It’s the worst I have seen in 35 years.”

Still Fired Up
City retirees are also among those who are facing drastic changes to their healthcare and pensions, and yet they have no seat at the table.
“We used to have our own representative for retirees,” said former Public Works Supervisor Tom Fay.  ”This city manager wouldn’t allow us in negotiations, and won’t allow us to attend meetings of bargaining units and the insurance/health committee.”
An employee with the city for 28-and-a-half years, Fay has been retired since 1996. He is one of the unofficial coordinators and communicators for retirees on these issues. He has been given no official information on what retirees can expect in regards to insurance premiums, but has heard their deductibles could jump by 400 percent. Close to 130 employees on the retirement rolls have between 25 and 30 years of service to the city. According to Fay, back in the early days of city incorporation, the city initially offered healthcare in lieu of raises, which the employees accepted gladly. Many are now worried those years of foregoing raises will be moot.
Also to be considered is the fact that most of these retirees are now qualifying for Medicare, which makes the city’s healthcare plan a secondary provider. They do not know if anyone has pursued a cheaper option for coverage based on that fact.

Retirees also have the ability to paint a picture of how our city could look without crucial services, because they lived it in the late 60s and early 70s - before the city’s infrastructure was fully in place. Vivian Gonterman, whose husband is a 21-year public works mechanic retiree, has seen the city grow over time. She believes the city is looking at the budget issues with tunnel vision, and forgetting the details of Tahoe life.
“In 1972, we had maybe seven trucks. It could take them four days to get to you. You would shovel your own driveway, hope you could make it to the main street and then try to jump the berm to get to work,” she said. “Do they want us to be like New York, where they have to shut down the city with just a few inches of snow?”
Both Fay and Gonterman believe another strong turnout is in the offing at the upcoming October budget meeting. Fay himself is mailing a letter to have read into the record, as he lives out of state.
“In my letter, I will be making points and asking questions,” he said. “And I will be watching online!”

Public speakers intimidated?
One of the most memorable moments at the September 15 council meeting came when Bob Rockwell was removed from the podium by the chief of police. Not only was he speaking out of order, he had passed the three minute limit on public comments.
“My hearing isn’t that good so I didn’t understand the order,” Rockwell said. “I was too busy thinking about how I had practiced all day and was ready to go.”
As Rockwell was speaking, Mayor Hal Cole tried a few times to reiterate that he would hear his comments after the budget presentation. However, Cole did not order Rockwell to leave, specifically, or point out his time was up.
“All of a sudden, there’s a tap on my shoulder, Rockwell said. “And this police guy is saying, ‘the mayor has asked you to leave.’ “
Rockwell put his hands behind him and bowed his head, trying to give the officer a sense of non-aggression, he says. He exited council chambers to a rousing cheer from the crowd.
The story didn’t end there, though. Rockwell and his friend headed back into the Flight Deck bar to relax, have a beer and watch the rest of the meeting on the TV. Within minutes, two more uniformed officers came into the restaurant and stood by the wall, observing. According to Rockwell, his friend felt uncomfortable and suggested they leave altogether.
South Lake Tahoe Police Chief Brian Uhler has a somewhat different version of the event. Uhler says he did act of his own volition, since Cole was asking Rockwell to finish, but being so polite that the message was not getting across. Uhler came forward to keep the meeting going forward.
“It was getting unreasonable that he was going on,” he said. “His comments were appreciated, and would have been allowed after the presentation.”
He agrees that there was a larger than usual presence at the meeting of uniformed officers. Some of the officers were there as interested parties in the proceedings and some were assigned. He heard that Rockwell had gone back to the bar area, but says police involvement ends there.
“It was his personal decision to leave,” Uhler added.

Cole said he gave Rockwell five minutes to speak initially and would have given him five minutes more after the agenda item came up for discussion. “I thought I was being accommodating,” he said. When approached by Uhler, Rockwell walked out and didn’t return, said Cole. He did not ask the chief to approach Rockwell nor was Rockwell removed, Cole said.
Since the meeting, Rockwell says his local notoriety has been fun and encouraging. Even his dad, also a former city employee, called to give him pointers.
He is hoping for another large turnout as well at the upcoming October meeting. And he hopes to speak again on behalf of the city employees, more prepared this time.
“I personally have nothing to lose, but if someone doesn’t speak up, they are going to get steamrolled,” he added. “I came away from the last meeting with the impression that they city has already made up their mind.”