Pacific Grove police losing patience with drawn-out contract negotiations.

Pacific Grove police have been working under an outdated contract since December 2013. But without a city offer on the table, they have dim hopes of a new one in place by the end of this month.

“The city is delaying the inevitable,” says Sgt. Carl Lafata, president of the Pacific Grove Police Officers’ Association. “They have to make a decision to have a police department or not – it comes down to that.”

P.G. City Manager Tom Frutchey says it’s not that dramatic. Residents support a hybrid approach, he says, with officers as city employees and other services, such as administration, shared.

The P.G. Police Depart-ment is now down six officers from its authorized force of 21. Lafata says PGPOA salaries are higher than in some comparable cities, but the lack of benefits more than offsets the difference.

P.G. police haven’t received health care benefits since the early 2000s, when the city agreed to the PGPOA’s request to transfer health-care costs to salaries. Frutchey says the costs to the city have gone up since.

“We are happy to re-examine that decision at the [negotiating] table,” he says.

After the 2013 reform of the California Public Employees Retirement System, the PGPOA agreed to split its CalPERS contributions 50-50 with the city. The city’s willing to reconsider that too, Frutchey says.

A negotiation meeting is set for today, Feb. 19. If the city makes an offer, Lafata says, the PGPOA will vote on it. If they don’t accept it, they’ll move to mediation.

“We’re anticipating not having a lot of luck in the process,” Lafata says, “but they could surprise us.”