Hoffman Estates approves three-year police contract

Hoffman Estates officials have approved a new three-year contract with their police officers union retroactive to the beginning of this year.

The village's officers will immediately receive a 1 percent raise retroactive to Jan. 1, and another 1 percent increase on July 1.

The contract with Metropolitan Alliance of Police Chapter 96 further calls for 2 percent raises at the beginning of both 2017 and 2018, Deputy Village Manager Dan O'Malley said.

The delay in finalizing the contract that was supposed to begin at the start of the year had more to do with difficulties in scheduling the negotiations than with disagreements during the process, O'Malley added.

Beyond the salary increases, the new contract also makes a change in how much officers pay for health care. Currently, officers pay 11 percent of the total cost of their health care, O'Malley said. That will increase to 12 percent as of Jan. 1, 2018.

Hoffman Estates' next collective bargaining negotiations will be with the police department's sergeants union, whose current contract expires at the end of the year, O'Malley said.