JERSEY CITY AND BEYOND — Layoffs of Jersey City police will go forward starting Feb. 15 as detailed in a Dec. 22 letter from the state’s Civil Service Commission to the city’s Business Administrator Jack Kelly. But Kelly and police union officials are meeting Thursday to find ways to avert the layoffs.
In the letter, the commission approved the city’s police layoff plan, which lays out a Feb. 15 date for the layoffs to take effect. The letter also advises the city to send out layoff notices no later than Thursday, the beginning of the official 45-day notice period under state civil service rules.
The layoffs – the source of much angry protest by the city’s police union – calls for the unemployment of 82 officers (with three years or less on the force) as well as two captains, four lieutenants, six sergeants, as well as seven civilian employees.
Kelly said Wednesday the list sent to the state on Dec. 3 has not changed, but it could happen if any retirements or other situations occur. He did say that the layoff notices would still be sent out Thursday but can be rescinded within the next 45 days.
“We are going to be in negotiations in the hopes that the police unions make concessions to save 82 officers from being laid off,” Kelly said. With those concessions, Kelly said, the city is seeking to save money. They include a one-year moratorium on a financial allowance for police uniforms and a pay lag for police salaries.
However, Jerry DeCicco, president of the Jersey City Police Officers’ Benevolent Association, said the city should be considering suggested intiatives by his union to generate revenues for the city to solve their budget problems to avoid layoffs such as a fee on tax-abated buildings and allotting half of a recent $2.8 million payment from a downtown Jersey City developer.
“The decision is theirs to save 82 police officers’ jobs,” DeCicco said. – Ricardo Kaulessar