New pact has raises for Salem police

SALEM -- City council approved a new police contract that grants law enforcement officers pay raises totaling just more than 10 percent over three years.
The pact with Quaker Lodge 88 of the Fraternal Order of Police, approved Tuesday by council, spreads the raises over three years, providing 3 percent in the first year and 3.5-percent increases in each of the next two years. Police approved the contract earlier this month.
The agreement, which affects 22 police officers, will cost the city about $75,000.
The wage increases will be applied to a salary scale in which a beginning patrolman now earns $11.01 an hour and a lieutenant at the highest position on the scale makes $18.52 an hour. Councilwoman Nancy Cope, R-at-large, said the new agreement affects very few contract provisions other than wages.
There was a change in the uniform allowance from $650 per year to $700 annually.
The city will continue paying the $267 monthly premium for health insurance for officers on the single-coverage plan. Employees on the family plan will pay $30 per month toward the $772 monthly premium for the family insurance plan.
Vacation benefits also remain the same, with two weeks after one year of service and five weeks after 20 years.