City council unanimously approved a new five-year labor contract with the New Castle Police Department during its meeting Thursday.
The contract runs retroactive from Jan. 1, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2027.
The department is represented by the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 21. During the meeting, city Solicitor Ted Saad explained some of the key points of the contract.
Under the contract, officers retroactively will receive a one-percent salary increase this year, a $7,000 increase in 2024, a two-percent salary increase in 2025 and 2026 and a three-percent increase in 2027.
Saad said these wage increases were meant to offer current and potential officers a competitive wage and to help with recruitment and retention, both a problem for the department in recent years.
“We’ve lost several officers to early retirement or better paying jobs,” Saad said.
From 2020 to 2023, the department only lost one officer to retirement, in 2021. In 2020, the department lost two full-time and six part-time officers, five full-time in 2021 and 2022 and three full-time so far this year.
The new contract changes the normal retirement eligibility for participants hired after Jan. 1, 2008, to age 50 and the completion of 25 years of service, with new hires to have a better pension than those hired between Jan. 1, 2008, and Jan. 1, 2023.
All police officers will contribute five-percent toward their pensions, an increase of 0.5 to one percent, depending on when the officer was hired.
Saad said the new contract reduces the amount of steps needed to get to the top salary amount per position from 10 to seven, while noting the amount of officers in the department will decrease from 36 to 33. Saad said this will be through attrition and retirement, not layoffs.
This will allow for additional wages to go toward the remaining 33 officers.
In total, the cost the city will pay for police salaries and wages, overtime, holiday and sick pay, longevity, health insurance coverage, uniform and other cash compensation will be:
•$2,581,129 for 2023
•$2,909,969 for 2024
•$3,016,414 for 2025
•$3,158,495 for 2026
•$3,281,485 for 2027
Saad noted for 2023 and 2024, those payments are actually below what the city’s Act 47 team projected the city would be paying, as the team expected the city to pay $3,031,695 in 2023 and $3,139,333 in 2024.
The city has until February 2024 to exit Act 47, thus no plan cap projections were made for 2025-2027.
During the meeting, a memorandum of understanding was approved with Lawrence County regarding the 2022 Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program Award. The county is allocating $11,538 to the city to help city police purchase new equipment and receive additional training.
nvercilla@ncnewsonline.com
