HIGHER PAY FOR COPS? 4 PERCENT RAISES SOUGHT DESPITE BUDGET WOES.

Byline: Mariel Garza Staff Writer

As Los Angeles looks at raising fees and cutting services because of a budget crunch, city officials face negotiations with the powerful police and firefighters unions on new contracts that could result in pay raises of up to 4 percent a year or twice the rate of inflation.

That's how much other unions and top bureaucrats have received in the past year even as the city's budget crisis began to build. And the unions now entering negotiations expect no less.

The head of the Police Protective League said at the least he expects ``cost of living'' raises - which has meant 4 percent pay hikes in the last year when inflation was running about 2 percent.

Mayor James Hahn acknowledges wage increases are likely even though he has called for a 66 percent increase in trash fees and a number of other fee hikes and faces potentially massive budget deficits in future years.

Most city officials and union leaders were reluctant to say much about the sensitive issue of further pay increases.

But Controller Laura Chick made her concerns public, urging the City Council in her year-end report on city finances to refrain from making any major commitments.

``Consideration of salaries comes after we know we can deliver all of our essential services,'' Chick said.

The current Police Protective League contract, which ends this summer, gave rank-and-file officers a 13 percent pay increase over three years. That contract pushed up officer salaries to $46,771 for rookies and $102,270 for top-grade lieutenants.

``We haven't presented any proposals,'' said PPL President Bob Baker.

Baker would say only that police expect raises equal to the cost-of- living increase. But other PPL officials said privately that they expect at least what William Bratton, the police chief of six months has already received: a 4 percent annual raise.

This might seem like a bad time to ask for any raise, what with city officials sounding the alarm about a potential $500 million future cash flow problem because expenses are running far higher than income.

Several elected officials said they support hiring more cops, but insist everything else in the budget is under consideration.

``Everything's on the table,'' City Council President Alex Padilla said Friday.

Padilla said the council will make the tough choices to balance the budget, but he wouldn't hint at what might be cut.

The city has been generous to city employees, whose unions have helped most city officials get elected, as well as to managers.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 18, last year won a three-year contract that gives Department of Water and Power workers annual raises of 4 percent to 6 percent.

And in December, the city settled contracts that gave its top managers and 9,000 other nonunion employees 4 percent-a-year raises. The rate of inflation is currently about 2.2 percent.

Deputy Mayor Matt Middlebrook confirmed that the Mayor's Office assumes the contract for police and firefighters will include raises of some sort, though he wouldn't say how much. Provisions for raises have been built into the salary requests for police in the proposed 2003-04 budget.

The mayor's budget found $29 million to pay for a net gain of 320 more cops next year.

Bratton came before the City Council last week and asked for even more - $4 million over what the mayor proposed - to aid in his crime-fighting efforts.

The council was friendly to Bratton's suggestions, but Bratton has also shown that the efforts he's made so far to get more officers on the street have paid off in a drop in crime.

As of April 26, homicides in the city have dropped by 25 percent from this same time last year, from 211 to 158, according to the Los Angeles Police Department's crime statistics. Total Part I crimes, that is serious crimes, dropped 2.4 percent during the same period, and arrests increased 5 percent.

Baker noted the city's commitment to public safety includes trying to retain officers and keep them from going to better-paid departments like Torrance or San Jose.

``We've stemmed the tide on attrition; we're not losing as many people as much, holding on to what we've got,'' he said.