The City Council voted down police and firefighters’ contracts in a heated April 14 meeting.

The contracts called for raises as follows: 3 percent retroactive for 2009, 3.3 percent in 2010, 3.4 percent in 2011 and 3.5 percent in 2012. In exchange, the union members would accept changes to healthcare coverage to save the city about $5 million.

“The city cannot afford the $8 million cost to taxpayers,” said Council President Peter Brennan, referring to the raises.

If contracts are not settled before May 22, union members would have to contribute 1.5 percent of their salaries toward healthcare, under a law signed by Governor Chris Christie.

Union members said this is the first time in Jersey City history that police and fire contracts have been defeated. But the City Council argued that harsh economic times do not make law enforcement immune to concessions.

Union members cited statistics to back them up.

“In 2009 we responded to over 500,000 calls, 295,000 of which came through 9-1-1,” argued PBA President Jerry DeCicco, adding that vendors paid $1.3 million in administrative fees to the city budget for the JCPD.

He cited an FBI Uniform Crime Report showing that 356 guns were taken off the streets in two years. “We’re sacrificing ourselves on the streets and with our wallets.”

Firefighters union president Joseph Krajnik said he was willing to renegotiate but added that Governor Chris Christie is out to “destroy unions, and take us back to the 1940s.”

Union members blasted Councilwoman Viola Richardson, a city police officer who works a county job while on disability.

The state sent a March 31 letter to the city stating that the contracts were “too expensive” and encouraging the city to go back to the bargaining table, according to Marc Pfeiffer, acting director of the Department of Community Affair’s Division of Local Government Services.