Employees of the City of Oxford, Oxford Police Department (OPD) patrol officers and non-commissioned employees will have slightly fatter wallets in the near future.
Oxford City Council approved three resolutions for pay increases at their June 7 meeting.
These contracts are the result of negotiations with the three groups, according to City Manager Doug Elliott. The negotiations were due in part to what Elliott called "major changes" to employee health benefits effective January 1. Elliott said these changes were an increase in cost to the employee with raised deductibles and co-pays, as well as changes to the prescription drug program.
The three separate contracts will affect 106 employees and save the city approximately $100,000, according to Elliott.
"The savings more than offsets the increases we've granted," Elliott said.
The city employees and non-commissioned OPD employees had not seen a pay increase since 2009, when they each received a 3.5 and 3 percent increase, respectively. Patrol officers received a 2.4 percent increase in 2010.
Elliott said the 2010 increase was due to a clause in the patrol officers contract that called for a yearly evaluation of salary based on the average salary of police departments in six neighboring departments.
The clause was negotiated out of the new contract, according to Elliott.
"We needed to have more control over our finances," Elliott said. "It caused us a problem in 2010 because no one else got an increase."
Elliott said the contract with OPD's patrol officers will last for three years, from January 2011 until December 31, 2013.
Elliott said the contract has no pay increase for 2011 as a trade-off for the 2010 increase, a 2 percent pay increase for 2012 and an additional 2 percent pay increase in 2013. The patrol officer contract affects 14 current full-time officers.
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The base salary for a patrol officer will increase from $58,311 per year to $59,477, Elliott said. This does not include overtime and benefits.
The contract will have no cost to the city in 2011, but will cost $38,000 in 2012 including overtime and benefits, according to Elliott.
Non-commissioned police department employees like dispatchers and parking officers will receive a 2 percent increase from May 1 and an additional 2 percent increase on January 1, 2012, according to Elliott. This contract affects 16 positions.
Elliott said this contract will cost the city $10,000 for 2011.
Non-union employees agreed to a contract providing them with a 2 percent pay increase effective May 1, Elliott said. This contract affects 76 city employees.
The increased costs will total at $53,000 a year including overtime and benefits, Elliott said. Half of the money will be paid through the city's general fund and the other half will be paid out of other city funds.
The group left out of the raises for now are the police sergeants and lieutenants. Elliott said the city is still in negotiations with the group of eight individuals. These employees received a 1.37 percent pay increase in 2010 as well. Elliott said the negotiations may go to factfinding. Each side would have to release a report to be voted on by council and then made public. These documents would allow the public to see the offers made by each side.
Elliott said he could not comment further on the negotiations because of an agreement signed by the city.
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