Long-awaited pay raises and benefits for Wilmington’s police start taking effect after City Council Thursday night approved provisions of a police union contract.
Wilmington police had been working without a contact since 2011. The deal approved Thursday was for a 5 year period ending last July.
Wilmington City Councilman Bob Williams remains furious it’s taken the city so long to finalize the contract.
“I know that the FOP spent $100,000 negotiating this contract to get exactly what they offered from the beginning," Williams said.
Williams - a former Wilmington cop - stressed the city’s main commitments should be to pick up trash, put out fires and have adequate law enforcement.
“To wait this long and to pass a contract that’s already expired tells me that the city’s priorities are a little misconstrued," Williams said.
The approved package includes cost of living wage increases: a two percent increase for FY13, a one percent increase for FY15 and a one percent increase for FY16. They retroactively take effect.
Wilmington City Councilman Bud Freel says deal also includes two additional days of training for the rank and file officers.
A $6.7 million budget amendment was also passed during the city council meeting to help pay for the police contract along with other city union and non-union employees. The funds come from the city’s unassigned fund balance.
Freel says police union contracts have been expired upon approval for the last 10-15 years.
“Our hope is that they’re going to go right back into a contract for FY17 and moving forward," Freel said. "Hopefully that one will get done a lot quicker than it took to get this one done. It’s five years that we’re out of contract now.”
Since council members aren’t involved in the negotiations, Freel couldn’t say what’s contributed to the hold up.
