Detroit announces plan to increase base pay for police officers

DETROIT — Detroit on Monday announced a plan to boost police officers' base pay by 4 percent on Jan. 1, about a year after the city exited the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Mayor Mike Duggan and Police Chief James Craig said the city had reached tentative collective-bargaining agreements with three unions that represent its sworn police officers. The deal, which also would raise the starting salary, would increase the police payroll by $41 million over the next four years.

"We had a contract running into 2019 that pays our officers much less than suburban departments," Duggan said in a statement. "We just aren't going to be able to continue to recruit or retain the quality of officers this city deserves if we don't start to address this problem."

The raises will be funded largely with cuts in payments made to consultants during the city's bankruptcy, which ended in December.

In the closing weeks of the bankruptcy proceedings, Judge Steven Rhodes allowed the mayor to intervene and contest the consultants' fees, the city said in the statement. Consultant fees were cut by almost $30 million.

The city is operating under the state-appointed Financial Review Commission, which must approve any collective bargaining agreements after determining that the city can fund the contracts without running a deficit.

Duggan expects the commission to support the agreement, which first must be ratified by all three unions over the next two weeks and then approved by the city council.

Members of all three unions took a 10 percent cut in wages in 2012, in addition to pension and healthcare reductions received by other unions.

"We are trying to fill more than 200 vacant police officer positions, which is a problem that will become critical if we don't address it," Craig said.

The agreement would increase officers' starting pay to $36,000 a year from $31,700, according to the city. It also includes an additional 3 percent base pay increase on July 1, 2019.

Under the agreement, officers would receive $2,000 per year in tuition reimbursement and a 2 percent increase in base pay if they have two years of college. Any lieutenant or sergeant with four years of college would also receive the 2 percent increase.