Aldermen voted unanimously Monday night to approve a five-year contract with the police union.
The new contract gives cops a 9 percent raise over five years. It goes into effect retroactively, back to July 1, 2011.
The deal will result in savings of more than $6 million to the city, said Hill Alderwoman Andrea Jackson-Brooks, chair of the Finance Committee. Those savings are due to givebacks in health and retirement benefits. Click here for full details about the contract, which was approved by cops in February at a rate of 2 to 1.
Jackson-Brooks successfully added an amendment that will not allow the police chief to increase the salary of rookie cops, unless approved by the Board of Aldermen.
Downtown Alderman Doug Hausladen stood to support that fact that the contract does not allow police to have a “hold-down” system, by which certain cops were given exclusive control over plum extra-duty jobs. Hausladen said the city will not go back to the “moral grey area” allowed by the “hold-down” system.