By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Lawrence Township police officers will receive an average 1.4 percent pay increase under the terms of a three-year contract ratified by the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 209 and approved by Township Council Tuesday night.
The contract is retroactive to Jan. 1, and expires Dec. 31, 2015. It covers the 58-member Lawrence Township Police Department, including the patrol officers and the “superior officers” sergeants and lieutenants.
Municipal Manager Richard Krawczun outlined the terms of the contract at the council meeting. He told the council that negotiations began in September and concluded in November. He thanked the FOP’s negotiating committee, which acted “in the spirit of cooperation.”
Under the new contract, patrol officers and sergeants will work a 12-hour shift. It will be reviewed at the end of 2013 and again in August 2014 and at the end of 2014 to ensure that the change in shifts from eight-and-a-half hour shifts to 12 hours “does not have a negative manpower or economic impact,” Mr. Krawczun said.
”This will provide more officers on duty at all times. We feel confident this will work,” Mr. Krawczun said.
The contract calls for a freeze in police officers’ salaries for this year. Salaries will increase by 1.95 percent in 2014 and 2.25 percent in 2015. The starting salary for a police officer who is hired this year and who is enrolled in the Police Academy is $30,000 down from $35,000 for police officers who were hired before Jan. 1 and who are enrolled in the academy.
After one year of service, the salary increases to $52,891 for officers hired in 2013. Those officers’ salary tops out at $102,102 after eight years of service. The detectives’ salary also has been set at $102,102. When the contract expires 2015, the top salary peaks at $106,435.
The salary for a police officer hired before June 30, 2010, also tops out at $102,102 in 2013 but after five years of service. The pay for officers hired after June 30, 2010 but before 2013 also peaks at $102,102, but it takes six years of service to reach the maximum salary.
The contract also addresses longevity pay, which is extra pay that an officer receives beginning in the eighth year of his or her employment. At eight years, longevity pay is $1,500. It tops out at $5,500 in the 28th year of an officer’s employment.
The contract also freezes longevity at the amount that an officer was paid in 2012, for officers who are receiving longevity pay. Officers who have not reached the maximum longevity pay will have it frozen at $1,500. It will increase by the same percentage as an officer’s salary 1.95 percent in 2014 and 2.25 percent in 2015.
But police officers who are hired in 2013 will not receive longevity pay at all.
Newly hired police officers will find their vacation days capped at 20 days. Police officers hired before 2013 will top out at 25 vacation days, which is reached in the 11th year of employment.
The contract also allows for a maximum pay-out of $22,000 for unused sick leave for current police officers when they retire, but the maximum will be reduced to $15,000 or the amount established by state statute whichever is less for police officers hired this year.
Police officers who were hired before June 28, 2011 will receive paid health benefits for up to 15 years when they retire, but police officers hired on or after June 28, 2011 will receive paid health benefits for up to 10 years after retirement. Officers who retire beginning this year will receive payment for unused vacation days, holidays, sick and personal days on a pro-rated basis.
Councilman Michael Powers and Councilwoman Cathleen Lewis praised Mr. Krawczun and the police officers for the “give and take” that went into the contract negotiations. They “worked hard” to come to an agreement, Ms. Lewis added.
Mayor Jim Kownacki, noting that he belongs to a union, said he realized that “it took a lot for you guys” to reach an agreement. He thanked the police officers for what they had achieved in working out an agreement.