The Jaffrey Select Board has approved 2.5 percent raises for police for the next two years.
During its meeting Tuesday evening, the board approved a three-year collective bargaining contract for the town’s police officers, which includes set pay increases for 2022 and 2023.
Police salaries are expected to stay at current levels for 2021, according to Town Manager Jon Frederick, as police already received a 2 percent pay increase at the start of the year. The contract ratified by Selectmen Tuesday guarantees a 2.5 percent increase for the next two years for the force.
The union contract includes all non-probationary members of the police force excluding the police chief and lieutenant. Excluding the chief and lieutenant, the department currently has 11 full time and two part time employees.
Police Chief Todd Muilenberg said stable pay increases are “a huge recruiting tool” for an area where other departments are struggling to hire and retain officers.
Rindge this year is looking to add an additional officer to its force, in part to help cover shorted shifts, and the New Ipswich Police Department is also seeking to increase its pay scale. Chiefs in both towns have referred to their departments as “revolving doors,” where often recruits who are trained in their department leave for higher paying jobs in other towns.
Muilenberg said currently, the Jaffrey Police Department does have staffing issues, but they are related to an unexpected medical retirement, and injury and military leave, not due to retention issues.
“Certainly its a huge recruiting tool,” Muilenberg said, of competitive salary and negotiated increases. “It’s a big benefit. We don’t have that so-called revolving door issue.”
The Department of Public Works is also under a bargaining agreement with the town, and Tuesday, the board also ratified a contract for their department through 2023.
According to Frederick, the Department of Public Works does not receive cost of living increases, but rather a “step” system, where workers get a 3 percent raise upon reaching certain anniversaries of working for the town. There have not been updates to the step process, but other areas of the contract were updated, according to Frederick, including increasing the hourly rate for call duty significantly, with further increases planned for 2022 and 2023, as well as an increase in the clothing stipend for workers.
Under the new contract, when DPW workers have reached their pay ceiling, each year, instead of a percent increase to their base pay, they will receive a one-time payment equal to 3 percent of their salary.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.