Cary police get raises with new contract

The Cary village board has approved a new two-year contract with police officers that includes staggered raises and increased employee insurance contributions.

The contract affects 22 patrol officers and detectives who are members of Fraternal Order of Police Chapter 231, said chapter President Scott Naydenoff, a 6½ year-veteran of the Cary force. The contract is retroactive to May 1. It was ratified by union members Jan. 19 and approved by the village board Tuesday.

The new contract extended from five to six years the length of time at which officers reach the top of the step pay scale. It also increases the officer’s annual base pay to $44,491 from $44,366 for the first year ending April 30, and to $45,594 for the second year, a 2.76-percent increase over the two-year period. Top step salaries went from $72,467 to $73,750 in the first year of the contract, and to $75,587 in the second year, or a 4.3-percent total increase.

Officers who have reached the top of the scale will get a 1.77-percent raise in the first year of the contract, and a 2.5-percent raise in the second year, starting May 1.

Union members had initially asked for 3-percent raises across the board, but also “understood the village’s financial situation,” Naydenoff said.

The new contract also increases police employee contributions for health, dental and eye insurance premiums from 15 to 20 percent, and calls for changes in the way officers make their bids for different shifts, he said.

“It was a good process. It was amicable, neither side had to bend over backward,” Naydenoff said, adding that both the village and union members made concessions during the months-long negotiations.

The main point of contention were the pay increases, Village President Tom Kierna said.

“(Union members) requested significant increases that the village wasn’t able to afford,” he said, declining further comment because he didn’t take part in the contract negotiations and did not attend Tuesday’s meeting where the contract was ratified.

Nonunion sworn officers, a total of six people with ranks of sergeant or above, get a cost-of-living increase and merit-based raises, Naydenoff explained.

The police department’s budget, at about $3.8 million, makes up almost half of the village’s general fund budget, Village Administrator Cameron Davis said.