Public safety unions (fire and police) in Vallejo are angry because their golden goose said it was done laying (voted to declare chapter 9 bankruptcy) on May 9, according to the Chron.

The city and its police and fire unions held a final contract negotiating session Sunday but failed to reach an agreement before Tuesday’s City Council meeting.The city and its public safety unions have been at the bargaining table for about two years. The city is asking for its police and firefighters to take salary, benefit and staff cuts, while the unions say any further cuts would endanger public safety as well as the safety of the police and firefighters.

Vallejo spends 74 percent of its $80 million general fund budget on public safety salaries, significantly higher than the state average. The generous contracts are the result of deals struck in the 1970s, following a police strike that left the city in turmoil.

This is probably the beginning of a wave of similar municipal bankruptcies. Vallejo is kind of the poster child of the excesses of compensation of municipal employees.