Is Sears Centre why Hoffman Estates is threatening police layoffs?

Last summer, when Hoffman Estates officials asked fire, police and public works unions to reduce their costs or face layoffs, they denied the cuts had anything to do with taking over the Sears Centre.

The $1.2 million to $1.8 million budget hole Hoffman Estates forecast in 2010 was due to the same economic struggles surrounding towns faces, village officials said, again reiterating that on Friday.

But the dollar figure for the budget deficit looks awfully similar to the $1.2 million to $1.9 million Trustee Gary Pilafas said Tuesday it will cost to run the Sears Centre arena next year. The village is scheduled to take ownership of the building by Dec. 31.

Village officials on Friday maintained the matching ranges were coincidental, that the deficit had nothing to do with taking ownership of the struggling arena.

Police union head Flo Williams disagrees. The union continues to engage in labor talks with the village trying to avoid layoffs of four junior patrol officers.

"We've said from the beginning that this has been all about the Sears Centre," Williams said. "Granted these are hard times, but we could have been able to manage the hard times in Hoffman had we not made the bad decision with the Sears arena."

Starting next year, the village will be on the hook for the cost of running the 11,000-seat arena once the current owner, the Ryan Companies, walks away and cedes control.

However, Village Manger James Norris took issue with Williams' linking the deficit to the Sears Centre. "It's not true," he said.

Norris said the village didn't even know how much it would cost to run the arena until October when arena management firms submitted their bids to run the Sears Centre. "We had no idea what the management fee would be," Norris said.

The budget hole comes from employee pensions, which have risen by $1.2 million, he said.

Williams said her bargaining team met with the village, including Mayor William McLeod on Tuesday, the day after union members crowded into Monday night's village board meeting when trustees approved cutting four jobs Dec. 31.

The union leadership took back an offer to its members but it was rejected, Williams said. Last year, the police union agreed to a five-year contract with 4 percent annual salary raises. The village wants to renegotiate the deal. When agreeing to contracts this year, the public works and fire unions gave up their 2010 raises, as did most village employees.

Norris hopes the police union follows suit.

"Nobody, including the board members who asked staff to negotiate concessions, nobody wants layoffs," he said.