Police, city close in on salary pact

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Phil Stake
Staff writer

GALLUP — Negotiation of the terms by which Gallup Police officers will work is coming to a close, and both sides appear to be satisfied.

City Manager Gerald Herrera said the final draft of the three-year contract, which states in specific language the terms of wage and benefits, duty and process will be sent to Gallup Police Officers Association union officials for approval and signing “within the next few days.” The new terms may take effect as early as Nov. 24, pending approval by the mayor and City Council during the Nov. 23 council meeting. The current contract, a five-year agreement, expires in February.

The new contract will add roughly $1 million to the police department’s coffers over the life of the contract, according to Herrera. That money will increase wages across the board.

Non-certified police officers, most often recognized as Community Service Aides, will see a substantial wage increase, from $10.28 to $13.28 per hour, according to Gallup Police Chief Robert Cron. Cron said that amount is scheduled to increase to $14.95 per hour by the year 2012. Raises for certified police officers have not yet been disclosed. All officers will receive two additional paid holidays per year, totaling six additional holidays by 2012.

The six holidays were axed from the calendar during a previous contract negotiation, under a different administration, according to officials at the bargaining table.

The overwhelming impetus for increasing wages, on both sides of the table, is retention.

“We attracted police officers at $10.28 per hour,” Cron said Wednesday. “But we weren’t able to retain them. They would take the training and go somewhere else.”

Cron points to five instances in which police officers were forced into the private sector just to pay bills.

“They loved police work but couldn’t make ends meet ... We’ll at least be able to match the salaries out there in the private sector.”

Herrera said the new wage scale puts Gallup’s police force on par, if not a little better than, the majority of departments in the state of New Mexico.

Increasing wages across the board also gives incentive for veteran officers to work toward promotion. Cron said that under the last contract, officers were not motivated to climb the ranks because it meant an increase in responsibility without a match in the wage.

In exchange for higher wages, police agreed to make efforts toward curbing overtime, something that will be easier to accomplish when the department is able to fill openings and retain officers.