The DeWitt Police Department has finalized its contract with the town after being without one since 2009, Chair of the Police Committee Ken Andrews said Tuesday.
The four-year contract expires in 2013 and includes raises for the department — just not quite what it was seeking.
“The bottom line is we’re happy to have it done,” Andrews said.
The department was seeking to gain 3-percent raises over the length of the contract, something Andrews said was next to impossible. Instead, both sides settled for 2.375 percent retroactive to 2010 and 2011, 2.625 percent in 2012 and 2.75 percent for 2013. Those figures are significantly lower than the 3.65 percent they received in 2009 and the 4 percent in 2008.
Currently, there are 36 officers in DeWitt but only 34 on the payroll, as two men are finishing up their commitments to the military.
Andrews cited tough financial times as the reason police weren’t able to get the annual raises they desired.
“You have to look at the big picture,” he said. “Our pension costs are 25 percent of each annual salary. This economy is not growing right now, and it would be really hard to give 3 percent to everyone. The four-year pact gives us some breathing room for the time being.”
The department also wanted to get 15 percent of its health insurance paid for, but had to settle for a little below that, Andrews said. The average cost of health care for a family of four in DeWitt is about $20,000, and Andrews said it wasn’t feasible to get the 15 percent.
After an impasse led to the sides going to arbitration in 2007, the arbitrator nailed down a two-year agreement that expired at the end of 2009, when negotiations on a new contract were being discussed.
The East Syracuse Police Department’s contract is set to expire in May, and village voters may have the chance to eliminate the department altogether. If that happens, responsibility for East Syracuse could fall into DeWitt’s hands, while residents of the village’s taxes could be cut.
Andrews said that would be a burden on DeWitt’s already understaffed department.
“We wouldn’t have the same number of officers, and we wouldn’t just be taking officers from East Syracuse,” he said. “We have high standards, and we don’t know if we’d need those officers, or if we’d even want them. If it does happen, hopefully we can have some time to figure it all out.”
