Police, town agree on three-year contract

Negotiations that began approximately six months ago ended Feb. 25 with a tentative three-year contract for Longboat Key police.

If police union members approve the contract, it will go before the Longboat Key Town Commission for ratification.

The proposed contract raises sergeant pay ranges to $65,197 to $81,064, up from the current $47,611 to $73,753.

According to a comparison provided by Longboat Key Human Resources Director Lisa Silvertooth, starting pay for Longboat Key sergeants under the current contract is 30% lower than the average starting pay for agencies in Sarasota, Manatee and Hillsborough counties, and the top pay is 9% lower. The average pay range for sergeants in those agencies is $68,344 to $80,890.

If the contract is ratified, some sergeants will see significant wage increases over the life of the three-year contract, as much 44% in one case. 

Officers’ salaries, which currently range from $45,361 to $70,237, will remain relatively unchanged, ranging from $45,361 to $68,490.

Officers and sergeants would also resume annual salary raises, or step increases, that were frozen during the recession.

Though police have received 2% cost of living adjustments since 2013, Town Manager Dave Bullock said, “(Police) wages were pretty well frozen in 2008.”

Officers and sergeants would reach top pay sooner because for both officers and sergeants, the number of steps, or annual increases employees can receive, in the new contract will be reduced from 19 to 12.

The larger increase in sergeants’ pay, police and town staff hope, will help them offer a competitive package to prospective employees, according to Bullock and Detective Sgt. Robert Bourque, the Police Benevolent Association’s representative in negotiations.

According to Silvertooth, 12 sworn police officers have resigned over the past three years, two of whom were sergeants. 

With 18 officers and sergeants, Bourque said that amounts to significant turnover for the department. He estimates that even though Longboat hires police with experience, each new hire requires $11,000 worth of training.

“Hopefully we would see a savings there,” he said.

Officers won’t see the same increases because both Silvertooth and Bourque agreed that officers’ pay is already competitive. Starting pay for officers under the current contract is 7% higher than the average starting salary for nearby agencies, and the top pay is 4% higher.

For the same agencies the town used to gauge the competitiveness of sergeants’ salaries, it found the salary range for officers was $42,257 to $67,335.

Most recently hired officers would see increases of 11% over the contract life, and some who have been on the force longer would see as much as 21%.

If the contract is ratified, it will take effect Oct. 1. But to address underpayment, both parties signed an agreement stating that new pay structures for sergeants would be effective immediately upon ratification.

Bullock and Bourque hope to get the new contract on the March 7 commission meeting agenda if union members approve it.

Bourque believes members will approve the contract.

“Our position as a union,” Borque said, “is we’re very grateful to the city manager and commission for having fixed (issues with non-competitive pay).”