Warden police get big raise

WARDEN - Warden police officers' pay will increase 12.5 percent by 2012 after more than a year of negotiating with the city.

The council approved the contract with the Warden Police Guild giving the officers four raises during the next year.

"Last year, the police department didn't get a raise because their union contract had expired and they didn't renegotiate," City Administrator Mike Thompson said. "So we made it retroactive for a 3 percent increase for last year."

The officers are receiving another retroactive raise of 1.5 percent increase, which started on Jan. 1. A 3 percent increase will follow on July 1. The final increase of 5 percent is scheduled for Jan. 1, 2012.

Thompson said a mediator came to the city for two sessions, and the police guild started with a request of a 16.5 percent increase. The officers said their pay was less than other similarly-sized cities in Washington.

The city administrator pointed out looking at similarly-sized cities can be misleading depending on how much money they receive in revenue.

"This is what we finally negotiated down to, so that's what council has agreed to," he said. "Our next step would have been binding arbitration, which would have cost us a fortune."

The city originally proposed a 1.5 percent raise each year, and a 3 percent increase for 2010, Thompson said.

Thompson didn't know how much the raises would cost the city, he said.