Civilian police employees in Wheeling to get pay raises under new 4-year deal
Twenty-eight employees in the Wheeling police department will receive pay raises under a newly finalized labor agreement.
The deal covers telecommunicators, records clerks, community service officers and property evidence officers represented by Metropolitan Alliance of Police Chapter 786.
The deal is retroactive to May 2019, when a previous contract covering those employees expired. It runs through April 30, 2023.
The employees will receive retroactive 2.5% pay raises effective May 2019 and 2.75% bumps effective this past May, a village memo indicates. They'll receive 2.5% pay raises in May 2021 and 2.75% raises in May 2022.
Conversely, the employees will be asked to contribute more to their health insurance premiums each year, documents indicate. Copays for office and emergency room visits will increase for employees in the HMO insurance plan as well, as will deductibles for employees in the PPO plan.
The village board approved the four-year contract without discussion or opposition Monday night. The union ratified the deal last month.
The same labor union represents the department's police officers and sergeants, but agreements with those two employee groups are separate.
All three groups previously had been represented by the Combined Counties Police Association, but they changed unions in April 2019, Assistant Village Manager Michael A. Crotty said.
Negotiations between village representatives and the union began in fall 2019, and the contract with the civilian employees was the last to be settled, Crotty said. In addition to simply being last to deal with, the COVID-19 crisis was partially to blame for the contract's delay, he said.
Crotty described the negotiations as "cordial and professional."
A video recording of Monday's meeting can be found at youtube.com/user/wheelingiltv.