September 9, 2009 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 3 Franklin Lakes Borough council agrees to new PBA contract by Frank J. McMahon The Franklin Lakes Borough Council has agreed to the terms of a new threeyear contract for the borough’s police force. This agreement does not include the police lieutenants, captain, or chief, all of whom are covered by separate contracts. The contract will be finalized when the membership of the borough’s Policemen’s Benevolent Association Local 150 has ratified the terms of the agreement. The terms of the tentative agreement were recommended by a mediator appointed by the state’s Public Employment Relations Commission after the borough and the PBA reached an impasse in their negotiations. The PBA requested PERC to provide compulsory interest arbitration in order to resolve the differences. According to Councilwoman Leslie Greer, chair of the council’s Public Safety Committee, and Borough Attorney Douglas Doyle, the tentative contract is for three years, and calls for a 2.75 percent salary increase in 2009, a 3.5 percent increase in 2010, and a 3.9 percent increase in 2011. The tentative agreement provides that there would be no budgetary layoffs of police officers this year but, in the third year of the agreement, all police officers will have to pay $30 per paycheck toward their health insurance. That requirement will end when a police officer retires. The tentative agreement also calls for police officers to have their time used as personal days to be increased from eight hours to 20 hours, but the additional 12 hours cannot be used on the 13 holidays currently designated in the collective bargaining agreement. The last contract with the PBA expired on Dec. 31, 2008. According to the petition seeking arbitration, which was signed on Jan. 3, 2009, there were more than five negotiation sessions with the borough during the final year of the contract. The previous police contract ran from 2004 through 2008. A settlement on that contract was reached after the PBA filed for arbitration earlier in 2004. That contract called for a four percent salary increase in each of the first three years of the contract, and a 3.75 percent increase in the final two years, for an average increase of 3.88 percent. The contract before that also ran for five years and expired at the end of 2003. That agreement was also reached without arbitration. It gave the police a 3.5 percent raise over the first three years of the contract, a four percent raise in the fourth year, and a 3.75 percent raise in the fifth year, which was optional if either party was notified within 60 days of the expiration of the contract. In the contract that just expired, the salary range for sergeants hired before Jan. 1, 1999 is $109,237 with four-tofive years of service up to $116,660 with 18 or more years of service. The salary range for patrol officers is $46,884 in the first year of service up to $110,799 with 18 years of service. The current salary range for sergeants hired after Jan. 1, 1999 is $106,055 in year one to $116,660 for a sergeant with 25 or more years of service. The salary range for police officers at the Law & Public Safety Institute is $37,787; and $46,884 for a probationary officer in the first year of service to $110,799 for a patrolman with 25 or more years of service. The new contracts for the department’s police chief, captain, and lieutenants will be negotiated after an agreement is ratified by the PBA. TIME TO PLANT ������ �������� ����������� FREE y Deliver “WOW! My Children Have Changed.” ����� �������� ���������� Join Us with your family and friends NOW! Special Family Class! ����� ������ Fall is for Planting 25%Off ALL TREES & SHRUBS through Sept. 2009 with this ad 854 Franklin Avenue, Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417 • htaekwondo8585@gmail.com 8-26-09 pat/janine HTaeKwonDo3x3(8-26-09) 3 x 3” �������������� ���������������������������� ������������� �������������������������� Professional ����������������������������� Landscape PROPANE Design 201-444-9995 • OPEN 7 DAYS 9AM–6PM ������������������������������������������������������������������