FILE PHOTO
By Gayla Cawley
LYNN–The mayor and Lynn police have agreed to a more than $3 million wage hike over four years.
The retroactive agreement provides 1 percent boost for 2014, a 2 percent increase for 2015, 2016 and 2017 and a 1 percent raise for 2018.
“I am very happy to have come to an agreement with the Lynn Police Association on a new four-year contract,” said Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy in a statement. “The new contract provides modest raises to the employees, while allowing the city to remain fiscally responsible with its budgeting.”
The police deal represents the first of a handful of union contracts which are up for renewal, including the firefighters and City Hall employees. The mayor, who serves as the chief negotiator for the city, said until the other contracts are settled she will delay other spending, including the hiring of a $73,000 deputy election commissioner.
Peter Caron, the city’s chief financial officer, said the contract for 2014 to 2017 will cost taxpayers $2.1 million. He did not have the amount for fiscal year 2018.
William Sharpe, president of the Lynn Police Association, said the wage is partly due to the use of Narcan by officers on people in the throes of an overdose becoming part of the job.
Lynn officers have saved 117 people with the overdose drug in about a year, he added.
Sharpe said police have been without a raise for about three years, before he and the mayor came to an agreement.
“We were able to sit down over the last few weeks and come to a reasonable accommodation for both sides,” he said.
Matthew Reddy, president of Lynn Firefighters Local 739, said the firefighters union is in the arbitration and negotiations on a new contract could begin within three months. He declined to discuss what those potential negotiations would include.
“They deserve a raise,” said Reddy of the police agreement. “They’re really hard working guys who do a great job for the city.”
Thor Jourgensen contributed to this report.
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.