BY DICK METZGAR
Staff Writer
HOWELL — The mayor and Township Council members are expected to approve the adoption of a new police contract at Tuesday’s regular meeting.
Council members and a spokesman for PBA Local 228 voiced satisfaction with the new pact when an amendment to the 2005 salary ordinance was announced at the governing body’s Oct. 4 meeting.
The new contract, which will be retroactive to Jan. 1, will run through 2009 and calls for an average annual increase of 3.8 percent.
“In any agreement, both sides leave the table wishing they had gotten everything they wanted and didn’t,” Mayor Joseph M. DiBella said, speaking of the negotiations that led to the new contract with the police union. “We believe it is a fair agreement.”
According to the agreement, salaries for a first step patrolman will increase from $36,653 this year to $42,796 in 2009, while those at the highest, or 10th step, will see their salaries jump from $83,863 this year to $97,919 by 2009.
“We’re very fortunate to be policemen in Howell,” said Cpl. Kevin Stout, president of PBA Local 228 and a 26-year veteran of the Howell Police Department. “This department has a great past and the potential for a great future. The new contract benefits both the members of the department and the township.”
The department is comprised of approximately 95 men and women.
DiBella went on to say that the negotiations were done in good faith and that the outcome was what everyone could call a good deal.
To those who would criticize the outcome of the final salary negotiations between the police and the township, DiBella said, “You put on the bulletproof vest and take the gun and answer the call at 1 a.m.”