Committee approves transfers to fund multi-year Newton police contract, including retroactive pay

The Public Safety and Transportation Committee voted unanimously on June 20 to advance two mayoral dockets that fund a multi-year settlement with the Newton Police Association.

Councillor Randy Block moved to approve docket 214-26, a $1,175,000 transfer to the Newton Police Department for contractual FY27 wage increases, and the committee approved the motion on a voice vote. The committee then approved docket 215-26, a $710,000 transfer to cover retroactive wage adjustments tied to the same settlement. The committee chair said both items will move to the Finance Committee and then to the full council for final consideration.

CFO Maureen Lemieux told the committee the administration was "very, very pleased" to present the items and said the agreement covers rank-and-file officers — about 110 sworn positions. She said the administration and the Newton Police Association reached an agreement for multiple years, and that the dockets include language to form a fit-for-duty committee and to allow prior-service credit and lateral transfers to improve recruitment.

The police chief thanked the mayor's office and the union for the collaboration and said the contracts cover the period back to FY2024 through FY2027 and include retroactive cost-of-living adjustments. The chief said adding prior-service credit for lateral hires is intended to make Newton more competitive for candidates and to help fill existing vacancies.

Committee members asked whether officers who had left the department during the unsettled years would be eligible for retroactive payments; Lemieux said anyone who was part of the bargaining unit during the covered years and who subsequently retired or resigned would be eligible to receive what they would have been due. She explained that the $710,000 retroactive item consolidates retroactive obligations across multiple bargaining units (engineers from DPW, parking control officers, crossing guards and the Newton Police Association) that were budgeted in prior years and carried forward. The $1,175,000 transfer for FY27, she said, is accounted for in the comptroller's current-year wage reserve and reflects compounding cost-of-living increases.

Committee members did not record individual roll-call votes during the voice votes; the chair announced the first vote as 6–0 and later stated the second vote as 6–0. The committee was told both items will proceed first to the Finance Committee and then to full council approval.

The committee did not take additional action on implementation details such as staffing or operational impacts beyond the fit-for-duty committee language referenced in the contract language.

The Public Safety & Transportation Committee will forward both dockets to the Finance Committee for review before the full council considers final approval.