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Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
Police get 4% yearly raises in 3-year pact
Members to pay more of health coverage premium
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

    Rotterdam police officers will get a 4 percent across-the-board raise annually, but pay more for their health care premiums, according to a three-year contract town officials approved with the department’s union.
    Board members ratified the contract with Rotterdam Police Benevolent Association Wednesday, bringing to an end nearly two years of negotiations. The PBA passed the contract last week by a vote of 24-17.
    The contract covers the department’s 45 patrolmen, sergeants, detectives and lieutenants. The police have been working under their previous agreement, which expired Jan. 1.
    Union President Jack Fitch said the PBA members were generally supportive of the contract, but some objected to carrying a greater portion of their health insurance. He said the majority of union members felt it was a necessary to work with the town.
    “It’s a fair contract for the PBA and it’s a fair contract for the town,” he said. “It’s a fair contract on both sides.”
    Union members will receive an annual 4 percent pay raise retroactive through this year and running until 2010. Lieutenants with the force received an additional $2,500 boost in base pay.
    Starting in 2009, any new hires with the department will be able to accumulate only 360 hours of compensatory time. This is a decrease from the 480 hours current.
    Supervisor Steve Tommasone said the town won valuable concessions. Aside from the raises, he said the contract is “cost neutral.”
    “We’ve been able to negotiate both sides very effectively,” he said.
    Board member John Mertz was the only town official to vote against the contract. He said the salary increase for the lieutenants brought them to a pay scale that exceeds the deputy chief’s salary even before overtime costs are figured in.
    The chief and deputy chief are covered under a separate contract. They are under an agreement until 2010.
    “Obviously, I think that creates an issue the board has to address,” he said.
    Talks between Tommasone and the PBA started early in 2007, but broke down. Negotiations resumed in January, when Jack Fitch became the new president of the PBA.
    Like most municipalities with a police force, Rotterdam’s department represents the greatest single piece of the town’s budget. Police spending reached $5.36 million in the 2009 budget, representing an approximate increase of 7 percent over the previous year’s allocation. That budget totals $19.9 million and was adopted Wednesday also.
    Next year’s budget includes $5.45 million in police spending, which is a 1.6 percent increase over the 2008 figure. Salaries for rank-and-fi le officers, representing the largest line item in the department, decreased by $14,210 or 0.92 percent in the budget; the allotment for detectives decreased by $45,240 or about 8.7 percent.
    In contrast, the allocation for police sergeants in the budget increased by 22.3 percent, or more than $93,000. The department’s lieutenants also received additional funding, which increased the lineitem by $19,830 about 7.7 percent.
    The new contract doesn’t include any mention of two policies once imposed by Rotterdam’s now defunct police commission. Prior to being voted out of existence in 2006, the commission set regulations that prohibited officers from drinking alcohol within eight hours of their shift and the use of police vehicles by off-duty lieutenants.
    After the policies were enacted, the PBA filed grievances with the state Public Employment Relations Board. Both policies were reversed.

these bums on th eboard are short changing the working men and boys in blue once more and the people of this town here are not going for it anymore and will throw them out for being so extreme. WHO do youy think keeps us safe? Not the politicians on the board THE POLICE do something right for them for once cheapskates

That's why they're called negotiations.  Each side came in at a price and they compromised to something both would agree with.  

Quoted from 191

these bums on th eboard are short changing the working men and boys in blue once more and the people of this town here are not going for it anymore and will throw them out for being so extreme. WHO do youy think keeps us safe? Not the politicians on the board THE POLICE do something right for them for once cheapskates

I cant afford them and they cant afford me......as for keeping us safe it starts at the grassroots level of neighbor to neighbor....
the police officers are not the moral enforcers........however, it is a dangerous job when dealing with obtunded folks and likes
of Jerry Springers off-spring.......and who said the politicians keep us safe---that is just a scary thought in itself......

they do keep the folks restricted to the bars on Guilderland Ave......

Quoted from senders

I cant afford them and they cant afford me......as for keeping us safe it starts at the grassroots level of neighbor to neighbor....
the police officers are not the moral enforcers........however, it is a dangerous job when dealing with obtunded folks and likes
of Jerry Springers off-spring.......and who said the politicians keep us safe---that is just a scary thought in itself......

they do keep the folks restricted to the bars on Guilderland Ave......

Senders, I don't undertsand the "they do keep folks restricted to the bars on Guilderland Ave".   what do you mean?

Senders....you there?  Still no response ?

Quoted from righteous

Senders....you there?  Still no response ?

I'm sure that some people have a life beyond this message board.

Quoted from bumblethru

I'm sure that some people have a life beyond this message board.

LMFAO... ya bum... like you and senders.... how many posts have you guys made here.

Bumble 28 days 7 hours 40 minutes

Senders 25 days 18 hours 38 minutes

That was my point. It was ment TIC!! Lighten up!

Quoted from senders

I cant afford them and they cant afford me......as for keeping us safe it starts at the grassroots level of neighbor to neighbor....
the police officers are not the moral enforcers........however, it is a dangerous job when dealing with obtunded folks and likes
of Jerry Springers off-spring.......and who said the politicians keep us safe---that is just a scary thought in itself......

they do keep the folks restricted to the bars on Guilderland Ave......

When someone is trying to break into your house or if you are getting mugged......call your neighbor.......

critics.....

Quoted from righteous

Bumble 28 days 7 hours 40 minutes

20 hrs 58 minutes. You're not doing too bad yourself for being registered for only 5 weeks.

Quoted from B GAGE

critics.....

My point was that folks need to stop sitting back and thinking there is an officer parked at the end of their driveway....now if we cant
keep our neighborhoods safe via ourselves we will become like the city when there is a wait of forever for a response.....
I am not complaining about the officers(I sure as heck could never do the job--my judge and jury at the moment)....


our neighbors are police officers too......so to 'fix' our cost problem a grassroots moral self enforcement needs to be returned.....
no different than paying other folk to mop our floors....sure you dont have to do it but is it a good job....

police officers are not paid to keep our floors clean per say but they are there to 'take out the trash'.....keeping the floors clean is
our job...we cant afford to pay someone else to do it....the better our community is the less police officers we have to pay.....
let's see what the future brings......for the entire country/globe......The time of believing that people are inherently good is coming to
fruition in the form of narcissism....without self discipline(discipling) it's always about what other people/workers etc can do for me....