TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Drat.

Just when things looked bad for Bakersfield finances, they got worse.

This time it's not the state reaching into the city till, but an untreated scrape with employees that's festered into a lawsuit.

At stake is an estimated $624,000 owed to police detectives for standby shifts.

That's a ballpark figure before possible interest and legal fees are added.

Ginny Gennaro, Bakersfield's city attorney, said the city hadn't yet been served, though she'd seen a copy of the suit.

"My position is: To a certain extent it's labor negotiations and (therefore) confidential," she said.

The suit, filed last month, adds salt to a pair of tricky wounds.

First, there's the looming budget nightmare, already a paste-and-bandage affair. The state is likely to snag $6.5 million to $11 million or more from the city's piggy bank in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1. That's on top of big drops in sales tax and property tax revenues. (Bakersfield's total proposed budget for next year is $443.8 million.)

Second, there are those going-nowhere negotiations with city police and fire unions.

In that environment, it's easy to imagine the standby suit further fraying tensions.

Court documents show it was a long time coming.

"There was absolutely no reason we had to sue them on this," said Alison Berry Wilkinson, a San Rafael attorney representing the Bakersfield Police Officers Association.

Here's what happened, filings show.

Back in August 2007, as the union was trying to hammer out its next contract with the city -- something still unfinished and now at impasse -- someone noticed weekday detectives should be getting $40 for standby shifts.

Historically, only weekend detectives had been getting the pay, said Bill Ware, president of the police union.

The contract language, however, makes no mention of weekends.

"Standby pay shall continue at $40 per eight-hour shift," it says.

Being on standby means detectives must be ready to go to a murder, sex crime or other incident at the drop of a hat during off hours.

E-mail correspondence shows union negotiators, starting in September 2008, tried addressing the issue with the city's labor negotiator and its human relations manager.

Nothing happened.

"Nearly two months have lapsed since my initial inquiry," wrote the union negotiator, Dale Strobridge, when informing the city in late October a lawyer was stepping in, escalating the issue by filing a grievance and a claim.

Police Chief Bill Rector was "in total agreement" that weekday detectives should get standby pay, Rector wrote in an early November letter to the union attorney.

The pay started Nov. 3.

But Rector's letter didn't address retroactive pay, and the contract had been in place since April 1, 2004.

Nor did City Manager Alan Tandy reply to a March grievance filed with his office.

And so, after a little more bickering between negotiators, the lawsuit was filed.

Wilkinson, the union lawyer, said the city would be served soon. She'd provided city officials with courtesy copies while waiting for the court to process paperwork allowing formal service.

"They have been so unwilling to work with us on this," Wilkinson said, adding that the city's non-action is a "reflection of the obstinate approach" it has shown during labor negotiations.