HUNTINGTON BEACH : Police Officers OK Pay Package Terms

After working the past six months without a contract, the city’s police officers on Wednesday agreed to accept a package that will provide a pay raise of nearly 20% over the next three years, a spokesman for their union said.

Under the tentative accord, police officers will receive a 6% pay increase retroactive to Oct. 1, when the last contract expired, and an additional 2 1/2% raise dating back to Jan. 1. Officers are to receive another 5% pay hike this October, followed by a 6% raise the following year.

The terms of the pact were outlined during a late round of negotiations Wednesday between the city and the Huntington Beach Police Officers Assn., before being approved by “a strong majority” of the 222-member Huntington Beach Police Officers Assn., said Mark Reid, the union’s lead negotiator. The agreement still must be approved by the City Council at its April 15 meeting.

With the exception of the police chief, the salary increase applies to all 237 sworn members of the Police Department.

The City Council this week approved a tentative contract agreement with the Police Management Assn., including benefit and sick leave provisions. But the salary portion of the pact, which expired Dec. 31, will not be final until council members adopt the Police Officers Assn. package.

If the council approves the new pay adjustments, Huntington Beach patrol officers will earn between $35,844 and $44,508 per year, and sergeants will make between $45,270 and $56,244. Lieutenants’ yearly salaries will range between $56,650 and $70,190, and captains will earn between $66,506 and $82,377 a year.

The package also calls for a series of changes in officers’ benefits, including a new pay incentive for bilingual officers, an increased uniform allowance and improved holiday pay, said Reid, who works for the Anaheim-based Peace Officers Counsel of California.