Baltimore County police officers won nearly $4 million worth of pay increases Tuesday in binding contract arbitration, a decision that disappointed administrators anticipating tough fiscal times.
The county?s police union scored a new pay step for mid career officers ? a modest request, union leaders said ? that did not include across-the-board raises.
As he had with other county employee unions, including teachers, County Executive Jim Smith rejected the request, said Cole Weston, president of the 3,000-member Fraternal Order of Police.
“The process was long and tedious, and there was extensive discussion about the economic situation in Baltimore County and whether they have the ability to go ahead and afford this slight improvement,” Weston said. “The arbitrator agreed with us that the county is in the position to afford it.”
Police officers in all other Maryland jurisdictions comparable to Baltimore County will be receiving an average 3.5 percent wage increase in fiscal 2009, arbitrator David Vaughn wrote in a 58-page decision.
Vaughn pointed to the county?s “enviable” financial health, including a $216 million general fund surplus and comparatively low property tax rates.
But that tax rate hasn?t been increased ? and was in fact twice reduced ? in 18 years, said Smith spokesman Don Mohler. Spending surplus funds, typically reserved for one-time expenditures, on ongoing costs such as salaries could lead to a structural deficit, he said.
And in the wake of a looming recession and a historic tax increase to resolve the state?s $1.3 billion structural deficit, Maryland counties need to tighten their belts, Mohler said.
“Obviously the county executive has tremendous respect for what police officers do every day ? same with teachers, firefighters and other county employees,” Mohler said. “Everyone agrees employees have been treated extremely well by the Smith administration. This is an unusual year.”
