Mount Vernon police union sues over delays in new contract

The police union in Mount Vernon is suing the city and its comptroller over the lack of updated financial data, claiming the union's ability to get a new contract is hampered without the information.

The Mount Vernon Police Association, like all but one of the other city unions, has been without a new contract since 2017. Its members are already the lowest paid police in Westchester and its chronic badge drain has worsened in recent years as 121 members of the department have either transfered or retired since the beginning of 2020, according to the union.

The lawsuit claims the comptroller, Rev. Darren Morton, and the administration of Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard have violated the city charter by not completing long overdue annual independent audits and annual and quarterly internal reports. It also argues that the long delay in new contracts should make the city pay interest on whatever retroactive pay is eventually provided if arbitrated or negotiated contracts give police raises for any of the last six years.

Lt. Nicholas Mastrogiorgio, president of the union, and union lawyer Liam Castro acknowledge that the quarterly reports since Morton took office in January 2022 have been completed and are on the city website but insist that they need older data that has not been made available.

Catching up on annual audits

When Patterson-Howard took office in 2020, the last annual audit that had been completed was one for 2015. Since then, the one for 2016 has been completed and the one for 2017 is underway, Morton said, as he continues to sort out the city's financial situation that he inherited from his predecessor. He said he has provided far more information in his 18 months heading the finance department than the unions had gotten the previous seven years.

He said that the city's primary concern is the retroactive pay - multiplied by three unions - due if raises are granted for the earlier years, and that interest as sought in the lawsuit would only add harm to the city's financial position. The city was forced to agree to new salaries for firefighters for 2018-2021 because former Mayor Richard Thomas had signed such an agreement before leaving office in 2019.

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Mastrogiorgio said the city's only contract offer for police in recent years was in November for six years of zero raises and then 7 percent raises in 2024 and 2025. The union has suggested contracts of varying lengths, including one with 1.5 percent raises for those six years and 6 percent next year and the year after, but all have been rejected as too costly.

He said the union has offered to spread out retroactive pay, maybe over two or three years. Morton called that "more manageable" but suggested the city might not be able to afford it.

"A combination of 0 percent for some of the years and retro pay for others with a prospective pay out would be less of a burden on the budget and taxpayers," Morton said in an email. "Yet, it would get the police salary increases to a respectable level.

Moving to arbitration

The union has moved for arbitration to get a contract for 2018 and 2019, because an arbitrator can only set a two-year deal. According to the lawsuit, the union would want an economist to opine as to what the city can afford in raises but that expert would require the financial data.

"They're using it as an excuse when it comes time to negotiate that they don't know how much money they have," Mastrogiorgio said.

Morton said he wasn't sure what more information the union would need to make its arguments.

"We will provide any and all financial information available for the arbitration, including our lack of a fund balance, low cashflow and significant debt," Morton said. "The bank balances will provide the true financial picture for the arbitrator and the PBA."

Morton said that while the city remains in "financial distress" he and city accountants have worked through various scenarios and will continue to do so. He told Mastrogiorgio in a letter last month that they were working "to find a healthy balance between the financial impact on our cashflow and financial reward to our police officers."

Mastrogiorgio has not been shy on social media over the past two years about his opposition to Patterson-Howard. He acknowledged he was disappointed the lawsuit was not ready before last week's Democratic primary. Patterson-Howard easily defeated Andre Wallace, making it all but assured she will win a second term in November.

The union has made the same low salaries - including $45,567 for probationary officers, $92,904 after five years - ever since the last contract expired at the end of 2017. Mastrogiorgio said they remain the only department in Westchester whose top salaried police officers still earn five figures.

The department has a budgeted staff of 208 sworn officers but was down to the low 180s before an expected new class of recruits enters the police academy this month. Mastrogiorgio said 93 members have transfered out over the past three and a half years and another 28 have retired. While bi-annual recruit classes have restored much of the manpower, Mastrogiorgio said that has left the department with a patrol force that averages only 1.9 years of experience.

"There's no way we can sustain this," he said.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Mount Vernon police union sues city over lack of financial data