Police accept 15 percent raise over 3 years

ST. PETERSBURG -- Police officers recognized that the city's latest contract offer was the best offer they were likely to get.

The officers overwhelmingly approved a new contract Friday that will raise their pay and pensions. Nearly 80 percent of them voted in favor of the three-year contract, bringing an end to nearly six months of labor negotiations.

"We're gratified and relieved," said Bill LauBach, executive director of the police officers' union, the Pinellas County Police Benevolent Association. "I think people just decided this was the best deal they were going to get, that this was the best way to move on down the road."

St. Petersburg's police officers have been working without a contract since October. The new contract will increase their salaries 15 percent by late next year.

"I think it's a good contract for the city and for the police officers," Mayor Rick Baker said Friday. "It's a significant compensation package that we've put on the table, and I think it demonstrates the city's commitment to public safety."

The city is giving police officers and crime scene technicians a 6 percent raise retroactive to last Oct. 1, an additional 5 percent raise this Oct. 1, and a 4 percent raise in 2003. Pensions will increase so that an officer with 25 years of service could retire at 75 percent pay rather than at 65 percent pay.

Officers rejected a similar contract by a 151-145 vote three weeks ago. The wording of that contract made officers worry that the city would make them pay much more for health insurance.

The city's latest proposal capped health insurance fees, and officers voted 263-70 in favor of it.

St. Petersburg's officers have long complained that they're underpaid compared with officers in other Pinellas County law enforcement agencies.

That's why 70 of them voted against the 6 percent, 5 percent and 4 percent raises they were being offered over three years. They wanted to hold out for more.

"The main reason is, the pay's not enough," said Roy Olson, a veteran patrol officer who voted against the new contract. "We have the highest caseload in Pinellas County, and we're seventh in pay. It doesn't make any sense."

Other officers worried that if they rejected the city's offer, the City Council would simply impose a one-year employment contract with a lower raise.

Of 15 law enforcement agencies in Pinellas County, St. Petersburg ranks seventh in starting salaries at $30,077. Once the immediate 6 percent raise kicks in, the city will rank fourth at $31,881.

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