City Finance Director Mr. Ailes opened a public hearing on Jan. 6 on Order 376, a request to transfer $128,500 from the city's reserve for union negotiations into the Police Department budget to cover recently agreed pay adjustments for superior officers.

What the council heard: the transfer would cover three percent wage increases for each year covered by the contract, post-adjustment increases, a shift differential change for a night shift and detail-rate adjustments, plus retroactive pay back to the start of the fiscal year for the 18 superior officers represented by the agreement. Assistant City Solicitor Mr. Dole was present and aided discussion of the memorandum of agreement.

Budget context: Mr. Ailes said the reserve for union negotiations had been budgeted at $750,000; after earlier transfers for other settled units, the reserve stood at about $486,788 if the council approved the current transfer. Jerry Perry, the city council budget analyst, recommended adoption of the transfer and said the pattern of this contract was consistent with other municipal contracts the council had approved.

Questions and clarifications: Councilor Sweeney asked whether the post-related pay increases presume POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training) certification standards had been met; Mr. Dole said the increases reflect changes required by POST and other statewide standards and that departments are subject to additional training and certification requirements that have been rolling out.

Decision: the finance committee recommended approval and the council accepted the recommendation and referred the order back to Finance and Property for action; committee minutes show the committee recommended approval and the council proceeded accordingly at the meeting.

Ending: the transfer is intended to allow payroll adjustments and retroactive payments for the superior officers under the negotiated agreement; the council advanced the order to finalize the appropriation through the finance committee process.