Rockville Centre's Police Union to Get Retroactive

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Rockville Centre's Police Union to Get Retroactive Raises
12:50 PM By Patrick Whittle

A state arbitration panel has awarded Rockville Centre Village’s police union a retroactive raise for 2010 and 2011.

The panel awarded the police two 3.25 percent increases, for the 2010 and 2011 contract years.

The award ends a period in which union members “have not had the benefit of any wage increase for over three years,” according to the panel. The panel made the award for the state Public Employment Relations Board.

The village attempted to “reach a fair, negotiated settlement” with the police union before going to arbitration, but was not successful, Rockville Centre officials said in a statement.

“We argued in arbitration that the interests and welfare of the public are a vital element of consideration and that the current state of the economy and pressure on taxpayers is at a critical stage,” the statement said.

The panel wrote that the village “should not be penalized for its fiscal responsibility,” but “the totality of the circumstances does not support an extraordinary award of no increase.”

The police union had proposed a 5.5 percent salary increase for each of the contract years, documents state.

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Add Long Beach

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Long Beach PBA officers awarded raises

Originally published: May 31, 2013 9:41 PM
Updated: May 31, 2013 10:25 PM
By PATRICK WHITTLE [e-mail]


A state arbitrator has awarded Long Beach police a back-pay agreement that will give officers a 20.75 percent pay increase over seven years.

Long Beach police officers, who will make an average of $96,514.02 in fiscal 2013-14, according to the city's budget, have not received a raise since 2008. The 61-member Police Benevolent Association has been without a contract since that year.

The arbitrator's award, released May 29, gives police five years of retroactive raises and two years of raises in 2013-14 and 2014-15. Compounded, the total raise is 22.7 percent, city officials said.

Long Beach officials and police union leadership declined to speculate on the dollar amount of the back-pay award. John C. McLaughlin, the city council's lone Republican, speculated Friday that it would cost the city between $3 million and $4 million, which he said it likely would have to pay through borrowing.

The award is sobering news for a city that has been struggling to dig out of a fiscal crisis, McLaughlin said. "The city's going to be in big trouble here," he said. "The only way they could pay for it is to borrow it unless some magical money came from somewhere."

City council president Scott Mandel said in a statement that the award provides some savings but does not go far enough to protect taxpayers.

"While our cops on the street continue to do a great job, we are disappointed by the arbitrator's decision based on the fiscal challenges our City and residents are facing," he said in the statement.

The city's police union believes the award is "fair on both sides," said union president Kenny Apple. "Guys haven't had a raise in five years. People are extremely happy that it's finally over," Apple said.

Long Beach officials released a statement Friday that said the arbitration agreement reduces termination pay by 16.6 percent, which will save the city more than $850,000 on current employees and carry over to the future. Health care co-pay reimbursements have also been eliminated, the statement said.

The award also includes an "unprecedentedly low" 1 percent twice-a-year increase for the final three years, the statement said.

All told, the agreement includes cost savings of more than $2.8 million, Mandel said in his statement.

The award comes on the heels of the city's approval of its 2013-14 budget, an $83.4-million spending plan that is a 2 percent decrease from the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. The budget carries a 1.5 percent tax increase.

Long Beach Republicans chided the city's Democratic leadership over the size of the award. "The city is taking a beating," city Republican spokesman Jim Hennessy said.

City manager Jack Schnirman did not return requests for comment.



www.newsday.com/long-island/towns/long-beach-pba-officers-awarded-raises-1.5382551