According to WNBC & the Associated Press, NYPD officers have negotiated a tentative new contract that gives police raises of 17 percent over four years.

It is the first Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association contract in more than 10 years that has not had to be decided by a state arbitration panel.

News 4 reports that the deal gives police officers a four percent raise in each of those four years and contains no substantial givebacks. The new deal is retroactive to Aug. 1, 2006. It runs to July 31, 2010.

Maximum pay goes from about $65,500 to $76,000.

The following statement was released by Mayor Bloomberg:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Patrick J. Lynch, President of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA), announced that a tentative contract settlement has been reached with the PBA on a collective bargaining agreement covering the period from August 1, 2006 through July 31, 2010.  The agreement, which is subject to ratification, covers over 23,000 police officers. This settlement marks the first time an agreement has been reached across the bargaining table with the PBA since 1994.

“We have the 23,000 police officers of the NYPD, as much as anyone, to thank for the low crime and heightened quality of life we enjoy in this City,” said Mayor Bloomberg.  “The most important aspect of the contract is that it will raise the starting salary for rookie cops from $36,000, to over 40,000, and that will be retroactive to 2006. I have always believed that the best contract agreements are those that are reached at the bargaining table, and this is a good example of that.”

“Officers in the New York City Police Department shoulder responsibilities that exceed those of other officers across the country,” said Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly. “They have helped drive crime down to record lows. They more than deserve the increased compensation reflected in this new agreement.”

“This negotiated contract, the first for the PBA in almost 15 years, continues to move us toward a market rate of pay that our police officers have earned and so rightly deserve,” said PBA President Lynch said. “It brings a police officer’s top salary at contract’s end to $76,488 and our total monetary compensation package to over $94,000.  The agreement also includes, for the first time, an historic escalator clause that links longevity pay and health and welfare benefits contributions to the percentage change of wage increases, ensuring that those substantial benefits automatically rise in the same proportion as salary.   That link will serve to magnify each future increase in an officer’s earnings while insuring the long-term stability of our health and welfare funds for both active and retired officers.  Additionally, major changes to work rules, including ones that allow police officers to mutually exchange tours and to better utilize existing sick leave will vastly improve the quality of life for our members.  We are pleased that a dramatic change in the negotiating atmosphere has allowed for a real exchange of ideas and has resulted in a contract that deserves police officer’s support.”

(YWN Desk – NYC)