By Doug Carman, Staff Writer
EAST WINDSOR The township’s men in blue may be getting a little more green from the township.
In two unanimous votes, the council passed, on first reading, four bargaining agreements with local police unions that call for a 1.5 percent across-the-board salary increase for its 43 sworn officers.
Two other agreements also passed in 6-0 votes, with councilwoman Marsha Weinstein absent call for similar raises for the town’s public works employees, the police dispatcher and the communication office’s clerk typist.
The wage increases will have to be voted on again at the council’s Feb. 8 meeting and approved before they’re adopted.
Mayor Janice Mironov noted no raises were given to the Police Department or any town employee in 2010, while the town struggled financially as the state withheld about $830,000 in energy tax receipts. Last year, there was also an agreement with the unions for the town’s employees to transfer from a private to a state health benefits plan that required them to contribute 1.5 percent of their salaries, saving the town $1 million annually.
”All of this … allowed us to maintain everybody’s jobs in 2010, and increases for 2011 are very modest,” Mayor Mironov told the Herald Wednesday. “We’ll anticipate us to continue to hold the line and maintain a stable financial basis.”
According to the ordinance documents, the raises will be incremental, with the first taking place within a month of passage and the second on July 1, 2012. The department’s 33 patrol officers last year were paid salaries ranging from about $69,500 to $89,900 if they were hired in 2009 or sooner, with newer hires collecting between $57,100 and $89,900.
With the raises expected to be approved next month, those officers will see their salaries climb this year to a range between $70,600 and $91,200 for earlier hires and between $58,000 and $91,200 for those hired within the last year.
The town’s six sergeants, currently collecting a base salary of $103,600, may soon get $105,200. By July 1, 2012, that number could rise to $107,800.
The four lieutenants, currently receiving $121,700 a year, could collect $123,500 for 2011 and will be salaried at about $126,600 the following year.
Police Chief William Spain’s position is not covered by any union and his salary was not affected by Tuesday’s votes.
All officers also collect longevity pay if they served at least five years with the department. The agreements will increase this pay from 2.5 percent of the base salary to 3.5 percent for those serving five years by this year and up to 4.5 percent by 2012. This longevity pay, however, will remain at 1.5 percent for those officers hired in 2010 or later.
Police and Fire Department salaries have become a point of contention at the state level, when Gov. Chris Christie and the state legislature passed a measure in December capping salary arbitration awards to an average of 2 percent.
Mayor Mironov, who is also a second vice president of the state League of Municipalities, said the negotiations for the town’s salary increases have been ongoing since last spring.
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