City agrees to 18% rise in police pay

The Huntington Beach City Council on Monday approved a four-year contract with the Huntington Beach Police Officers Assn., granting 18% in salary increases and fully-paid health insurance among other incentives.

The city will pay an estimated $6 million ? a 4% raise across the board in April and another 4% in October, followed by two 2% increases in 2007, and another 5% yearly raise for 2008 and 2009. The contract also includes 5% pay raise after 10 years of service and an additional 5% for 20 years of law enforcement service including experience at other agencies.

Negotiations began in December to settle differences over the contract.

“Obviously they wanted more,” said Bob Hall, deputy city administrator.

City officials and professional negotiator Renee Mayne were able to work them down quite a bit, Hall said. The police officers association had been looking for more certifications and special pays.

The contract will make Huntington Beach competitive and fill vacancies even as cities in Southern California struggle to recruit enough police officers.

The city’s police force has been operating with about 17 vacancies, with many officers working overtime.

“It’s been sometime since we were at full staff, and it was creating a morale issue,” Hall said.

The new contract will be a positive recruiting tool, said Police Chief Ken Small. Officers get 3% raise for a community college degree and an additional 3% if they have an undergraduate degree.

Among the improvements in the contract is that officers will get credit for getting a degree as opposed to taking a certain number of units, he said.

“The higher the level of education, the better police officers are,” he said, adding that the new contract puts the department about in the middle of typical pay.

The contract will help the city retain officers and hire ones with more experience, said association President Kreg Muller.

“This contract is designed to help us hire lateral officers from other agencies,” he said.

Experienced officers, who already have between nine to 12 years of experience, could be lured to Huntington Beach with an enticing pay package and benefits including fully paid Blue Cross health insurance and retirement benefits.

Muller is hoping the package will attract some top talent at the city’s recruitment event on June 10 for its 17 vacancies.

For Mayne, chief negotiator of the contract, working on the 2006-2009 contract was a breeze compared to the previous contract that stalled for about three years before being resolved. Mayne was hired in 2004 to defuse tensions over the 2001 contract.

“The contract reflects the organizational goals and retains the highest quality police officers,” she said.

The wage increases would make Huntington Beach competitive with other cities striving to attract police officers, Mayne said.

Huntington Beach is ranked about seventh out of 12 cities in Orange County, languishing in the lower half of the labor market. With this contract, the city will be a little above average pay but much better-paid than other public agencies in the county, except Anaheim and Santa Ana.