Arlington Hts. cops to get 6 percent hike over 3 years

The Arlington Heights village board approved a new contract for police officers that will net them a 6 percent salary increase over the next three years.

The contract, which runs until May 1, 2014, gives no pay increase the first year, but officers will receive 2 percent raises on May 1 and 1 percent raises on Nov. 1 during the second and third years — similar to the contract the firefighters accepted earlier in the year.

Mayor Arlene Mulder said it was great to see both public safety entities make the necessary sacrifices to get new contracts in place as the village tries to move forward out of its financial strain.

“It says a lot about the police officers recognizing the challenges every municipal government has gone through.” Mulder said. “I look forward to knowing we have three years of a great level of public safety.”

The new contract was an addition to the $135 million budget the village approved in April, which was a 4.2 percent cut from the previous year's budget and included raises for only the one-third of village employees who were scheduled to move up a step on the salary schedule.

Like the firefighters, police officers agreed to a scaled-back contract compared to the previous agreement. Firefighters had even given back half of the roughly 4 percent raise they were scheduled to receive last year.

“We took the leap of faith to try to do things differently,” said police representative Tom Henderson.

The 84 sworn police officers who are members of Metropolitan Association of Police Chapter 510 had been working under the terms of their previous contract, which expired May 1. The union represents all officers under the rank of sergeant.

The board showed unanimous support for the contract and had nothing but positive remarks for the negotiation process.

“I just wanted to say thank you very much,” Trustee Thomas Glasgow said. “It shows your commitment to this community, which you show every day.”