ST. LOUIS — City and police union officials have finalized a new labor contract giving officers some of their largest pay raises in recent memory.
The deal, signed by leaders on March 27, provides for $3,000 “retention incentives†to be paid immediately and salary increases worth several thousand more dollars per officer starting in July. It also calls for further negotiations on wages next year.
City officials said the changes should at least temporarily narrow pay gaps between ºüÀêÊÓƵ police and neighboring departments as well as cut into the growing number of officers leaving the force in recent years. Chief Robert Tracy said last month his department had 976 officers, down nearly 250 from its budgeted strength of 1,223.
But there’s a caveat: The agreement appears to condition the deal on the police department remaining under city control.
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That could raise the stakes in the ongoing debate at the state Capitol over whether to return control of the department to a state board.
Mayor Tishaura O. Jones has strongly opposed the push, which could stymie her efforts to strengthen oversight and implement other reforms. But police unions have been just as adamant in their support for the move, which they say would lessen the influence of politics on crimefighting.
A bill authorizing a state takeover — and significant pay raises of its own — passed the Missouri House last month; it still awaits a hearing in the Senate.
If the labor agreement does remain in effect, the salary increases are expected to cost the city roughly $18 million in the next fiscal year beginning in July. Roughly two-thirds of that money will go to police, city Budget Director Paul Payne said. The rest will go to firefighters, who are entitled to pay parity with police under the city charter.
The new contract also says officials are committed to providing take-home cars to officers who live in the city and have more than five years on the force: 69 vehicles have been ordered and should arrive in late spring, it says, and there are plans to buy 36 more.
The changes align with a plan Comptroller Darlene Green presented to the mayor and aldermanic president last summer calling for wages “competitive†with other police departments in the region, take-home cars and other incentives.
Aldermen approved a resolution calling for similar action in October.