Buffalo Grove, police officers agree on new contract

Nearly a year after their old contract expired, Buffalo Grove police officers have a new one.

The village board on Monday approved a new, two-year agreement the Metropolitan Alliance of Police Buffalo Grove Police Patrol Officer Chapter 672. The deal is retroactive to January and expires at the end of 2018.

Under the new agreement, the top base pay for an officer with more than seven years' experience is $102,000. Starting pay for an officer is $69,000.

Deputy Village Manager Jennifer Maltas said the contract calls for a 3 percent salary increase, retroactive to January.

The main issue during the negotiations, she said, was health insurance. The new contract eliminates a Preferred Provider Organization plan that had no deductible, replacing it with one that includes a $500 deductible for individuals and $1,500 for families.

Other changes in insurance include the addition of a vision plan and a one-year flexible savings account incentive to members of the union.

"There wasn't a whole lot to discuss," Police Chief Steve Casstevens said of the contract talks. "We agreed on a salary formula years ago, so the salary kind of works itself out on its own. Really, the only thing that we talked about was minor changes in health care coverage."

One new provision stems from a new state law requiring drug and alcohol testing for officers involved in a shooting.

"The basics of the law have already been written into our policy," Casstevens said. "We're just going to talk further on how to implement the policy, because state law only says you have to do it. It doesn't say how."