In Fishkill, views differ on approval of cop deal

Written by Susan Campriello | Poughkeepsie Journal For more, check out the paper's website or subscribe to the paper as I do.

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FISHKILL — A new, four-year contract between the Town of Fishkill and the Fishkill Police Fraternity Inc. that grants pay raises and adds new holidays into the calendar has been met with mixed reviews.

The agreement, which runs retroactively from 2011-2014, could increase labor spending by close to 11 percent over the life of the contract based on step increases, schedules and a weighted average of current staff and associated levels, according to town and police officials. The contract was accepted in a 3-to-2 vote last week.

Budgeted labor spending will increase roughly from between $12,770 to $19,150 in 2012 and by $56,000 or $62,600 over the life of the contract, town Comptroller Robert Wheeling said.

A roughly $60,000 increase over several years was acceptable to Kurt Buck, a former detective elected to the Town Board in November.

The agreement adds three holidays, two in 2012 and one in 2014 at a pay rate of time-and-a-half, according to the contract. The pay rate for one additional holiday will increase from time-and-a-half to double pay in 2012, and two holidays will increase to double pay in 2013, according to the contract.

Resident Dennis Zack, also a former detective, called the new holidays and pay rates a secret cost. “It is irrational, irresponsible and a financial hardship to the taxpayers of Fishkill,” he said, saying he believed the additional pay would “kill” the budget.The 2012 town budget includes $739,000 for police labor, which represents an increase of $50,000 from the 2011 budget, a figure that exceeds the actual increase for 2012, Wheeling said.

Officers did not get everything they wanted in the agreement, which took roughly eight months to negotiate, according to Police Benevolent Association President Frank Vidal said.

The contract does not provide for higher pay for officers who work midnight shifts or a longevity pay increase. And, salary increases, which he said range from roughly $1 to $3 over the life of the contract for eligible officers, are not as high as officers had wanted, he said.

Still, officers are happy with the agreement, he said.

“No one is complaining,” he said, adding that the negotiations had moved forward as though there would be no administration change in the new year. “(Supervisor Joan Pagones) did it like she’ll be here.”

Pagones, who will leave office at the end of the year, said the town agreed to the raises because officers on the part-time force do not get benefits enjoyed by full-time town employees. Officers will by the end of the contract have 16 holidays, just like other town employees, she said.

Personnel who have not graduated from an academy would not get raises, according to the contract.

She and Wheeling said that the contract increase would have been roughly 10 percent higher if the agreement had included longevity pay increases, and Pagones called the exclusion of the increases “a major concession.” She was also pleased that pay raises would not be applied retroactively to 2011.

She said working with the PBA during the negotiations was a pleasure.

But Councilman and Supervisor-elect Bob LaColla said the agreement seemed rushed and granted officers raises when other employees had wage freezes or salary decreases. The labor attorney’s concerns played into his decision not to vote for the agreement.

Police Chief Don Williams said he is not concerned that the cost of pay increases will force officer layoffs.

“We’re down to a minimum,” he said, adding that cutbacks would compromise public safety and officer safety.

Reach Susan Campriello at scampriell@poughkee.gannett.com or 845-451-4518.

At a glance

The Fishkill Police Department includes 42 part-time officers and administrators as well as four full-time and roughly 13 part-time dispatchers, police Chief Don Williams said.

The new contract covers 38 patrolmen and women, sergeants and detectives, but does not include the chief, lieutenants, captains and dispatchers, according to department officials.

In 2012, costs could increase by a range of $12,765 or 2.26 percent to roughly $19,154 or 3.42 percent; in 2013, costs could rise by $20,269 or 3.50 percent and, in 2014, costs could increase by $23,171 or 3.87 percent, according to town officials.

The contract mandates that, starting in 2012, the town budget for no less than 1,000 hours of community policing per year, no less than 5,200 coverage hours each year for the detective division and no less than 18,500 coverage hours a year for police officers and sergeants for patrol.