The city’s police union is breaking the law. That’s the word from city council, after determining the take-home car policy is invalid. But union leaders are defending the practice. Fox 23’s Douglas Clark has details.
Since the city and police union agreed on the latest contract, most officers have been allowed to drive their cars home at the end of their shift. But now city council says those who do so and live outside the city limits are breaking the law.
The take-home vehicle policy has been a source of ire for city leaders since Mayor Taylor announced another $6 million worth of budget cuts. But police union leaders say the take-home cars are a key benefit that the city agreed to when it signed the contract.
“It does violate our city ordinance,” says Council Attorney Drew Reese.
‘We’ve got an ordinance that says you can’t take city vehicles outside the city limits. There was an exclusion that was granted at one time. But that exclusion is no longer applicable. And yet we still allow city vehicles to leave the city limits,” says Councilor Bill Martinson.
Martinson and others want the union to give up the practice for officers who live outside city limits. The latest budget cuts included laying off three officers. And officials estimate the take-home car policy costs the city between $400,000 and $1 million, money councilors say could be used to re-hire those officers.
“That’s a significant amount of money to the city of Tulsa right now,” says Martinson. “We’re in a terrible budget crunch right now.”
Union leaders stand by the take-home policy and say the city is now going after employee groups to replenish its dwindling coffers.
Council Attorney Drew Reese says during arbitration, the city and police union agreed to keep the policy in place, but no one questioned its legality. And now, it may be too late for the city to change it.
Reese says other states allow union contracts to over-ride city ordinances. But Oklahoma does not have such an exception.
The police union and the city will begin negotiations for their new contract in February.
