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San Jose City Council Approves Tentative Police Contract With Higher Pay And Bonuses

SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- San Jose city council members on Friday approved a tentative wage agreement with the city's police officers and endorsed a plan to settle ongoing litigation over pension and retiree healthcare benefits for police and firefighters.

Police officers started voting on the wage contract at 5 p.m. Friday and voting will end at 5 p.m. Monday, according to a spokesman for the San Jose Police Officers Association and the International Association of Firefighters Local 230.

The one-year wage contract will give police officers a 5 percent bonus, union spokesman Tom Saggau said. That will come as a 2.5 percent in September and 2.5 percent in December, he said. The bonus is meant to help retain officers in a department that has struggled with retention recently.

Officers will also get an 8 percent pay increase, 4 percent in January and 4 percent in July.

Former officers that return to work for the city between July 1, 2015, and Dec. 31, 2016, will also get a 5 percent signing bonus. The city will get the bonus back if the officer leaves prematurely, a city official said.

If approved, the contract will take effect on Dec. 31.

Mayor Sam Liccardo
San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo (CBS)

"This wage agreement provides the means - without breaking the budget - at a time of unique opportunity to reverse the diminishing size of our force, and improve police response for our residents," San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said in a statement.

"It's a pretty big day for everyone," Saggau said.

Litigation over Measure B, a 2012 pension and retiree healthcare reform measure that, among other things, increased employee contributions to their pensions, should be going before a judge in the next two months, Saggau said. All non-public safety unions are negotiating similar health and pension packages, he said.

Measure B will go before the judge when those unions reach agreements with the city, union and city leaders said.

The judge will invalidate Measure B and a new ordinance on pension and retiree health benefits will go into effect immediately, according to the agreement reached between the union and the city.

"We've been fighting for four years," Saggau said. "It's a relief that we can come together."

The new ordinance will end the current retiree health plan for new officers and firefighters and current officers and firefighters will have the option to opt out of it, he said.

The change will boost take home pay and help the city reduce its debt, he said.

The new ordinance will also establish a pension plan that is affordable and competitive with other jurisdictions, he and Liccardo said.

Saggau and Liccardo said the new agreement on pension and health benefits will save the city $1.7 billion during the next 30 years.

Union members and city leaders have also agreed to present voters with a 2016 ballot measure, which will strengthen the pension and retiree healthcare ordinance, city officials said.

The measure will ensure the new pension plan has enough funds to cover its commitments, ban retroactive pension increases and require residents to vote on any future pension increases, according to Liccardo.

"We now have common ground upon which to rebuild our police department and other critical city services," Liccardo said.

© Copyright 2015 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

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