The Los Angeles City Council signed off Wednesday on a four-year labor contract that will provide raises for 9,900 Los Angeles Police Department officers.
The contract with the Los Angeles Police Protective League does not provide any increases for 2014 or 2015, but calls for a 4 percent cost-of- living adjustment in July 2016, followed by a 2 percent increase in July 2017 and another 2 percent in January 2018.
The labor contract also sets a higher starting annual salary, bringing it to $57,420 from $49,924.
The contract also puts $80 million toward overtime costs in fiscal year 2015-16, $90 million in 2016-17 and $100 million in 2017-18. The city had previously been banking overtime payments and promising to pay officers later.
The contract includes a 5 percent increase in health-care subsidies, a $500 increase in the annual uniform allowance and an optional overtime buy-down and increase in cash overtime.
The contract’s term began July 1, 2014, and runs through June 30, 2018.
The contract is expected to cost the city an additional $120.9 million over the lifeof the contract, with $320,000 added in the first year, $10.38 million in 2015-16, $61.04 million the following year and $49.16 million in the final year. The city also expected to pay another $80 million to $100 million each year for overtime.
The union rejected a different contract proposal last summer that would have boosted starting annual salaries, but included no salary increases for existing employees.
The city spends about $990 million a year on police salaries, and the health-care subsidy increase will begin in July, city officials said.
— City News Service