Reduced Salary For Jail Capts. Has An Impact;
Filing Down By 1,000 But Agency Says It Has Enough

By REUVEN BLAU

The drastically reduced starting salary for Correction Captains has deterred some officers from seeking the promotion, based on the latest filing numbers.

PETER D. MERINGOLO: Remains skeptical.

According to Department of Correction figures, 1,672 officers signed up for the October exam. In comparison, 2,738 officers applied for the last exam administered in 2004. Filing for that test was extended to attract more applicants.

Last-Minute Deluge

Sources said that a day before filing for the latest exam closed on July 25, only about 800 officers had applied. But according to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, a steady stream of officers filed on the last day.

"We are thrilled; it's 20 percent of the rank," said Alan Vengersky, the department's Assistant Commissioner of Personnel. "I didn't expect that the numbers would double, but that [11th-hour filing by many COs] happens fairly routinely."

The figures indicate that the department will have enough candidates to fill projected vacancies over the next several years, he said. "It seems reasonable to assume that will more than serve our needs," he remarked.

SID SCHWARTZBAUM: 'The career path is shot.'

Peter D. Meringolo, the Correction Captains' Association president, was less enthusiastic. "I still don't think that's a very high number," he said during an Aug. 4 phone interview. "I don't think 1,600 is a lot given the last test and how many people actually failed it."

Lowered Passing Grade

For the first time in years, the department passed officers who scored lower than a 50 on that 2004 test, which resulted in a 730-name list. Mr. Vengersky asserted that the latest filing figures suggest that "people wanting to make a career here know that this is the only game in town." Officers realized that they need to be on an eligible list to have a chance of being promoted, he said. "They would at least want to give themselves the option," he remarked.

Sidney Schwartzbaum, the president of the Assistant Deputy Wardens'/Deputy Wardens' Association, said he was surprised by the numbers. "Ninety percent of the people that I asked said they weren't interested and that the promotion wasn't worth it for them," he remarked during an Aug. 4 phone interview.

NORMAN SEABROOK: Should alter Captain test.

Promotion Drawbacks

Mr. Meringolo had predicted that many of the department's 8,300 Correction Officers would be reluctant to apply because of the reduced starting pay and added tours facing future Captains. CCA members voted last month to overwhelmingly ratify the four-year, 6-1/2-month pact that will give them a 17-percent wage increase, but the deal requires newly promoted Captains to work an additional six tours a year while stretching their salary scale.

Mr. Meringolo said he had little choice in the matter, noting that the first two years of this round of bargaining was shaped by the pattern set by the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association's attrition-based arbitration award last summer.

A significant portion of the wage hikes for the PBA was offset by the reduction in the pay scale for future hires. But because savings to the city are greater under the PBA deal due to the higher attrition rate among cops, the Bloomberg administration demanded additional savings from the CCA and other smaller unions with more stable work forces to even out its costs.

'A No-Win Situation'

"The City of New York put us in a no-win situation," Mr. Meringolo argued. "When you allow the first-line unions to sell out the unborn, you know exactly what you are doing."

He noted that based on the new contract, newly promoted Captains will be paid $1,400 less in base salary than veteran Correction Officers until Nov. 11, when the 3.15 percent raise becomes effective for CCA members. The union leader also pointed out that most experienced COs do not work nights or weekends and are stationed at preferred posts. Under those circumstances, he said, there is no reason for a seasoned Correction Officer to take the Captain test. Mr. Schwartzbaum agreed. "The promotion is a demotion," he said. "It's frightening that the career path on this job is shot."

Despite the lack of incentive, 30 new Captains began training Aug. 1. Mr. Meringolo, who addressed his new members for two hours at their orientation, predicted that many of them would decline the promotion before completing training.

Mr. Schwartzbaum blasted the department's decision to pass officers who scored poorly on last exam. "Allowing and embracing failure weakens the foundation of the department," he said in a statement. "Lowering promotional standards and killing the career path via pay inequities is the proverbial perfect storm, which could destroy the agency in the near future."

Only the top 69 candidates scored 70 or above, and just the first four candidates scored 80 or higher.

Cost City in Long Run?

Captains who lack knowledge of the department's complex policies will be more liable to make mistakes, which will open the city to costly lawsuits, Mr. Schwartzbaum contended. "If I send a Captain on a probe team and they are wrong half the time, there is something wrong with that. A large portion of this job is technical knowledge."

Mr. Vengersky, however, called that argument a "leap" and defended the department's decision to change the passing score. "That assumes that everybody who scores below 70 doesn't know the job," he said. "It could simply mean they didn't study."

The passing score for the new exam will be returned to 70 percent, he noted. "Now they are competing against themselves," he said. "We are expecting people to study and score better on this test."

But Mr. Meringolo questioned why the department passed officers who didn't study. "Anyone off the street can get a 30 or 40," he noted. "We should have had another test."

City personnel officials, he said, told him after the scores were released that it would be too costly to hold a new exam.

'Test Proves Little'

Norman Seabrook, the president of the Correction Officers' Benevolent Association, said that the written test wasn't an accurate indicator of who would make a good Captain. "You have some really smart Correction Officers but they are just not good test-takers," he said.

The department, he suggested, should add an oral interview to the exam to better gauge candidates' leadership abilities.

He said that he had no intention to lobby the city to change the salary structure for Captains. "Because I believed when we did the pension we corrected the career path," he said. "I'm not fixing any more of anybody else's problems."

Equalized Pension Pay-Ins

In 2004, Mr. Seabrook successfully lobbied Governor Pataki to sign a bill that virtually equalized the required pension contributions for future COs and those promoted to Captain.

The measure, which Mr. Meringolo had supported for years, corrected the imbalance created 17 years ago by former COBA President Phil Seelig that provided a full pension after 20 years to COs under Tier 3 but forced Captains belonging to that pension tier to contribute more than twice as much in salary for the same benefits.

"I give credit to Norman Seabrook for helping to fix the pension," Mr. Meringolo said. Referring to the new career path dilemma, he added, "I didn't create this problem. The City of New York did when they allowed union leaders to sell out the unborn."