Indio Bracing To Layoff 14 employees

The city of Indio is facing a $5 million budget deficit for the next fiscal year.

According to Mayor Glenn Miller, the plan is to layoff 14 city employees to close the gap for the next fiscal year.

15 city departments will also be restructured to cut costs including the police department which could see as many as threesworn officers layed off.

“There’s not gonna be any less police officers on the ground. What we’ve done is basically eliminate a group of management positions,” said Miller.

Miller also saidthe restructuring of the police department along with concessions made by theIndio Police Officers Association will save the city $1.6 million.

But the other union that represents police management isn’t buying the plan that would have its members drop in rank so they could hit the streets to make up for the 3 officer loss.

The attorney for the Indio PoliceCommand Unit Association,Wendell Phillips, believesit’s not a sound way to police the city.

“When the police command unit gets descimated and the police department gets decimated and reorganized, you’re gonna lose people who fight crime and replace them with people who largely work in the office,” said Phillips.

Miller contends, the police officer layoffs and some of the other proposed layoffs in the city might be avoided if its union partners that have not agreed to concessions return to the bargaining table.

“Ican tell you we are continuing to work with them,” said Miller.The city manager has an open door police as do I, that we are more than happy to listen to anything they bring to the table.

But, Phillips claimshe has been told otherwise.
“Iasked is this issue, the reorganization of the police department and concessions linked, absolutely not(the city said)we don’t care about concessions. We’re reorganizing anyway and bottom line, fourcops are coming off the street period,” said Phillips.

Phillips came upwith the number four,because one officer is retiring and won’t be replaced leaving the police force with 63 officers.
The Indio Police Command Assocation filed for an injunction Wednesday in Riverside County Superior Court, asking that the city’s reorganization of the police departmentand planned layoffs be put on hold until the two sides are able to meet.

The way it stands now, sometime next monththe city council is expected to adopt a $44.7millionbudget for the next fiscal year that beginsJuly 1.