City officials asked officers to take wait about 9 additional months for a 2 percent raise they promised them.

As some of the ballots were counted, some of them read “hell no.”

"I'm sorry, we work for our money," EPMPA president Ron Martin said.

The city may now ask officers to take furlough days. Martin said if 100 officers took a furlough day it would save the city about $250,000. He said overall it would take officers off of the streets for about 120,000 hours.

KFOX asked if officers were ready for the furlough.

“Apparently they are,” Martin said, “I hope it doesn’t come to that because it’s not the officer that’s going to suffer it’s going to be the citizens that are going to suffer.”

Martin said officers have held off on getting a raise last year. He said officers have also given up eight days of holiday pay, meaning when officers work a holiday, they get only regular pay.

"It comes down to this, the union is worried about its officers, its citizens and safety. City hall is worried about a decimal point," Martin said.

The city was facing a $10 million dollar budget shortfall, but now Mayor John Cook said they have made cuts and the number is down to a little more than $1 million.

The mayor said he is not surpirsed by the way officers voted. Cook said City Council will decide Tuesday if they will ask officers to do furlough days or if they will need to raise taxes.

"What I hope the council does is decide whether or not their constituents would rather have their public safety paid for or are they going to cut public safety in order not to have a tax increase," Cook said.

In simple terms, the mayor said the city may ask residents for a 1 cent tax increase for every $300 of property value.

Cook said they have made cuts to all departments except police, fire and parks.

Sign Up For E-Mail News Alerts