The Abridged version:
- The Sacramento City Council has approved a contract outlining Sacramento police officer salary raises for the next three years.
- The contract comes as the Sacramento police union expects to struggle with recruitment and retention. The union anticipates the force will downsize to about 600 officers by end of year.
- City officials say the contract costs will be covered with prior-year savings.
Sacramento police officers can expect continued pay raises after the City Council approved a new labor contract Tuesday. However, the police union says the pay still falls short, claiming the department will struggle to maintain the size of its force.
The officers will see their pay increase 11% by the end of the three-year deal.
Facing steep budget deficits in the years ahead, the city of Sacramento expects the new raises to cost about $7.3 million this fiscal year. By the end of the contract, the additional cost will climb to about $19.3 million, at which point officer wages are expected to be at market rate.
“The agreement does help us hold water — this is kind of the way I would put it,” Sacramento Police Officers Association president Dustin Smith said. “It’s not putting us above, below, beyond or making us a premier city from a pay and benefits standpoint.”
Currently, Sacramento police officers are paid in the range of about $89,000 to $120,000, according to the police department. City officials considered the anticipated raises during their last budget process, setting aside prior-year savings to cover the cost.
“This agreement supports the employees who serve our community while maintaining our responsibility to manage public resources carefully,” City Manager Maraskeshia Smith said in a statement. “I appreciate the work and collaboration that went into reaching this agreement.”
Sign Up for the Morning Newsletter
The Abridged morning newsletter lands in your inbox every weekday morning with the latest news from the Sacramento region.
Striking a deal
The new contract follows a one-year agreement, which the city and police union went through an arbitration process to resolve.
“It’s been a long six months, but it’s also been a long few years because we’ve been trapped inside of what was basically one-year agreements,” Smith said.
The push for pay stems from a recruitment and retention concern. Considering the size of Sacramento, Smith said the department should have about 1,200 officers. By the end of this year, the Sacramento police department anticipates having a roughly 600-officer force, police union treasurer John Pullen said.
“We’re going to be half staffed by the end of the year for where we should be,” Smith said. “At that point you could really just say we’re a defunded police department.”
Smith said a shrinking force influenced changes to recruitment strategy, with the department wanting to attract a wider and larger applicant pool. In particular, candidates are not required to fulfill a number of college units and can qualify with a high school diploma.
“In a kind of desperate move to help with recruitment, they lowered our hiring standards and eliminated our educational requirements,” Smith said.
The size of a force influences quick response times, ability to connect with the community and officer safety, Pullen said at the council meeting.
“If we want to maintain the level of service our residents expect, we must ensure this city remains a place where good officers want to come, and they want to stay here and work,” Pullen said during the meeting. “That means continuing to invest in training, equipment, and a work environment where officers feel supported by leadership, by the community, and by our council.”
