Feguson: DOJ consent decree could cost city nearly $10M
Officials in Ferguson, Mo. project approving a consent agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice could potentially cost taxpayers in the St. Louis suburb nearly $10 million over the next three years, according to a new city estimate released Monday.
Ferguson's city council is scheduled to vote on Tuesday whether to ratify the tentative settlement reached with the Justice Department last month to revamp the police department which came under the international spotlight following the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, in August 2014 by a white police officer.
Darren Wilson, the former police officer involved in the shooting, was cleared of wrongdoing by county and federal prosecutors. But the incident — and subsequent unrest in the city of about 21,000 — sparked a civil rights investigation by the Justice Department that unveiled endemic problems in the treatment of African-Americans by the city's police and municipal court system.
Under the agreement, Ferguson will pay the cost of a Justice Department monitor for at least three years, purchase software and hire staff to maintain data on arrests, traffic stops and use of force incidents.
The agreement calls for a revision in the police department's training with an emphasis "toward de-escalation and avoiding force — particularly deadly force — except where necessary," according to the Justice Department.
Ferguson would also be required to recruit a more diverse force. Currently, only a handful of officers on the more than 50-officer force are African-American in a city that is nearly 70% black.
City officials have expressed concern about a provision in the agreement, aimed at boosting Ferguson's ability to compete for top law enforcement candidates, that would force the city to dramatically increase officer benefits by as much $14,600 per year in salary, pension and payroll costs, according to the budget document.
Raising police officers' salaries would force Ferguson to raise its firefighter salaries, the city says.
"The city has always maintained salary parity between the Police Department and Fire Department In fact the proposed Fire Fighters International Association (FFIA) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) specifically calls for salary parity," the city contends in its cost estimate document. "The creation of a 'most competitive' pay rate for the Police Department will cause the same pay rate increase to be extended to Fire Department. Without this increase voluntarily extended to the Fire Department, it is certain that the FFIA will cause a collective bargaining agreement or MOU to be imposed upon the city to accomplish the same increase."
The city estimates that implementation of the agreement would cost at minimum $5.8 million and as much as $9.8 million.
If the city does not pass the agreement, Justice could sue the city to try to enforce the consent decree, which could cost the city increased legal fees.
The city, which is asking residents to pass property and sales tax increases in April ballot initiatives, is already facing a $2.8 million budget deficit.
Much of that deficit was accrued from overtime paid to police officers during the unrest, lost tax revenue from businesses that were damaged in the riots and municipal court reforms that have already been implemented.
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