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Police and firefighters given new contracts
By JENNIFER GOLDBLATT, Times Staff Writer NEW PORT RICHEY -- The New Port Richey employees who fight crime and fires have hammered out employment contracts with the City Council that include a 3-percent raise for the current fiscal year. The contracts also give employees eligible for retirement the option to work and draw interest on the money in their pensions for five additional years. New Port Richey council members unanimously approved contracts that cover the city's 50 police officers and firefighters at a meeting Tuesday night. The three-year contract with the West Central Florida Police Benevolent Association, which represents 32 city police officers, also includes a 4-percent general wage increase for the next fiscal year and a 5-percent increase for the following year. The agreement also includes the 15-minute roll call and briefing time in the hourly rate, so overtime will be paid only after officers work 41.25 hours per week, instead of 40. Employees also were given an additional floating holiday per year, bringing the total to three. Both of the agreements also allow for a Deferred Retirement Option Program, which says that when employees are eligible for retirement -- which is at age 50 or after 20 years of service -- they have the option of continuing to work for up to five years and allowing the pensions they're entitled to be paid into the plan and to draw a fixed 6.5-percent interest rate, or whichever interest rate the plan is currently drawing. At the end of that five years, the employee must retire. That benefit is offered by the Florida Retirement System, which covers most city employees. In the one-year contract approved with the International Association of Firefighters Local #1156, the 18 firefighters it covers will have a different calculation for their pension benefits: The benefits will be calculated based on the highest salary of their last three years of service. Previously, those benefits were calculated based on the average of their last four years of service. In other council business Tuesday night: Council members approved higher fees for photocopies of city documents of up to 8.5 inches by 14 inches. The new charge will be 15 cents per copy, triple the old fee of 5 cents. Council members stressed their desires to get the entire City Council agenda available online. City Manager Gerald Seeber said he is hoping to have the agenda online within the next two to three months. -- Jennifer Goldblatt covers business in Pasco County. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6229, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6229. Her e-mail address is
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