Syracuse mayor determined to use private contractors at airport
With more than 100 police officers working overtime at the Syracuse airport, the average cost to the city, after salary, pension costs, and Social Security taxes amounts to $63 an hour per officer; the city mayor says that high air fares from the major air carriers affiliated with Syracuse’s Hancock International Airport are mostly due to security costs — and one way to reduce these costs is to replace the officers with a private sector contractor
Syracuse mayor Stephanie Miner (D) is seeking a private contractor to replace local police officers in order to attract more airlines and cheaper fares to the central New York city. In their attempts to block the move, the city police union has been met with Miner’s reasoning: “I understand the union’s position. They don’t want to give this up because it’s very lucrative,” Miner said.
High air fares from the major air carriers affiliated with Syracuse’s Hancock International Airport are mostly due to security costs. In her State of the City Address that took place on 27 January 2011, Miner discussed expectations of the program: “Our costs are so high now and competition is so tough we want to move quickly to address the costs we can and, accordingly, we moved forward with the idea to outsource security.”
With more than 100 police officers working overtime at the airport, the average cost, after salary, pension costs, and Social Security taxes amounts to $63 an hour, according to Christina Reale, interim aviation commissioner.
An initial offer to the police union by Miner proposed that officers could keep 40 percent of the airport security details which would amount to approximately 1,200 hours per week, while the remaining 60 percent would be given to retired police officers at straight-time pay. Once the deal was rejected in November, the Syracuse Police Benevolent Association began to file an improper labor practice charge with the state Public Employment Relations Board, according to Jeff Piedmonte, union president for the Syracuse police.
“Those are our positions and they should continue to be our positions,” said Piedmonte. “If the city wants to change, that’s something that needs to be negotiated.” He also said that any changes in airport security should be negotiated as part of a new union contract since the city’s police contract expired 31 December 2010.
To put things into perspective, Albany International Airport spends $2 million on security per year while Rochester airport spends $2.8 million. Of the $3.7 million in security costs at the Syracuse airport, $3.1 million is overtime according to Christina Reale, interim aviation commissioner.
Asides from fielding complaints from police departments and union reps, Miner also received letters from six airlines last year comparing the security cost of $2.68 for each individual passenger with fees at neighboring airports that ranged from $1.41 to $1.64.
A Syracuse information and news network reported that airlines were dissatisfied by the 13 percent decline in passengers, and the 25 percent rise in Syracuse’s security costs between 2007 and 2009. “We encourage the city of Syracuse to better control these airport-related costs in the interest of retaining the current air service and, as economies improve, (to) eventually expand,” they wrote.
City Auditor Phil LaTessa said that airport security work accounts for about one-third of overtime hours worked by Syracuse police. Based on pay records for the first half of 2010, he estimated that the city spent nearly $10 million for police overtime with some 87 officers receiving salaries nearing or exceeding $100,000.
LaTessa has admitted driving people to Rochester’s airport for the cheaper flights, a problem he hopes to see resolved through Miner’s efforts.
