Police Reluctant to Accept City's Pay Raise Proposal on Percentage and Term

City staff and the San Angelo Coalition of Police (SACOP) met Wednesday morning in City Hall for one of the shortest Meet and Confer meetings to date on the police pay raise proposal, a negotiation that has been going on for the better part of eight months now.

At a previous meeting, the City countered SACOP’s initial proposal—to be within 3 percent of the average salaries of police departments in comparable, benchmark cities within three years—by stretching the time frame to four years to reach a goal of 95 percent of comparable cities’ average rates.

Since the last meeting, sub-committees comprised of City finance employees and a limited number of SACOP members have met to discuss some sticking points, namely how the midpoints of salary ranges are figured and how to adjust the salaries of local police in light of the variance in ranking steps the SAPD has compared to those of departments in other cities.

Having hammered out the technicalities in multiple sub-committee meetings, the Meet and Confer meeting Wednesday was called to address the ultimate goal—be it four years at 95 percent or three years at 100 percent—and to discuss how to moved forward.

“I have met with my side and they have met with our masses, per say, and one of the things that…I think they’re getting from our officers is are we as high was we can get in the four years. I think that’s where we’re stuck,” SACOP President Sergeant Korby Kennedy said.

Following a brief caucus, Kennedy continued. “Here’s the crux of our situation this morning. We proposed 100 percent in three years and your proposal is 95 percent in four years…I think from what we are getting from our officers and from my team is that we’re kind of stuck on that three to four year period. I think it would be difficult for us to pass a four-year without needing more percentagewise.”

Both entities agreed that more work was being done at the sub-committee level than in the open meetings, and decided to move the discussion into a private forum.

“We’ve been successful, but I don’t think the work is done,” Assistant City Manager and Chief Financial Officer Michael Dane said.

The previous meeting outlined three points to focus on in the sub-committees as an agreement of where the police stand now on the spectrum of salaries; defining the ultimate goal percentagewise; and determining the pace.

In the coming weeks, the sub-committees will try to hammer out and agree upon the goal and the pace, to be discussed at the next Meet and Confer meeting on May 27 at 9:00 a.m.

Further reading concerning the police pay raise negotiations:

1. San Angelo Coalition of Police Present Pay Raise to City

2. City and SAPD Battle Over Budget

3. City Staff and PD Discuss Vehicle Maintainence and Allegations of Mismanagement

4. San Angelo Police Consider City's Proposal

5. SACOP Declines City's Pay Proposal

6. City Proposes Pay Raises for All, SACOP Refocuses on PD

7. Council Members Weigh in on Police Pay Raise

8. SACOP and City Make Headway on Police Pay Raise Proposal