NYPD in Times Square by Sophie Harrington on Flickr.
An arbitration panel of the Public Employment Relations Board decided yesterday to award the city’s uniformed police officers a retroactive pay raise that will total 9.73% (the city had originally offered 6.24%). As a result, starting salaries for new cops will rise from $25,100 to $35,881 and pay at the highest level will increase from $59,588 to $65,382 before overtime.
In return, the union agreed to several givebacks including a 2.81% productivity increase, allowing the department to change police officers’ schedules without having to pay overtime, and requiring new hires to give up 10 of 20 vacation days each year for five years. The decision will affect the already lean city budget and is projected to cost $50 million a year more than the had city budgeted, prompting Mayor Bloomberg to bring up the elimination of a planned 7% property tax cut.
Despite the effect on the budget, it is hoped that the starting salary increase will help the dismal recruitment rates the NYPD has seen in recent years. This January’s recruitment goal of 2,100 fell short by almost 900 candidates, and this July’s lowered goal of 1,200 is not likely to be met. The total number of police officers has fallen from more than 40,000 six years ago to almost 35,000 today.
Yesterday’s decision by the PERB covers the period from August 2004 to July 2006, so the city and police union will face yet another bargaining battle over the next two-year contract. The PERB was created in 1967 along with the Taylor Law and facilitates collective bargaining between New York State public employers and the employee unions.
