Girard, patrol officers reach pact

By LINDA M. LINONIS

linonis@vindy.com

GIRARD

The city has reached a new three-year contract with its police patrol officers.

The main items covered in the pact are wages and health insurance. The contract was reached after fact-finding and binding arbitration, officials said. The contract covers 11 patrolmen and one dispatcher.

Jerry Lambert, director of public service, said there are no raises for 2010 and 2011. There is a wage reopener agreement for the first quarter of 2012. That is related to projected revenue from V&M Star’s expansion, which is to open that year. The previous contract had ended December 2009; negotiations took a year.

Because of its fiscal- emergency status, the city could ill-afford raises, Mayor James Melfi and Lambert said.

A patrolman’s starting salary is $34,068; after five years on the force, it’s $46,000. The union had raises of 2 percent a year from 2007 to 2009.

The health-insurance premium is 80 percent paid by the city and 20 percent by the individual. The cost to officers is $15 monthly for an individual and $30 for a family plan, under the new contract. The maximum out-of-pocket expense for a family is $2,000 and for an individual, $1,000.

Lambert said the contract covering the department’s four captains expired in 2010; it will be the next contract to be negotiated.

The city will be on firmer financial ground when V&M Star opens in 2012, and the city begins receiving wage taxes.

“V&M Star will help change the city’s financial fortunes,” the mayor said. It’s projected that V&M Star will generate about $400,000 annually in wage taxes for Girard and Youngstown, with the two cities splitting that figure.

V&M Star construction will produce about $3 million in wage taxes on construction workers for Girard and about $2.5 million for Youngstown.