Sep. 4—A labor pact between Joplin city administrators and police union members will go to the City Council on Tuesday night for adoption.
The agreement sets a pay range for rank-and-file police positions, but city documents posted with the meeting agenda did not define how much of an increase there would be over the current year.
Police officers, corporals and sergeants are members of the Fraternal Order of Police, Southwest Missouri Lodge No. 27. For years, the union and city officials bargained for terms and conditions of employment through a meet and confer process.
In January, the FOP notified the city that its members wanted to instead have collective bargaining negotiations on pay and working conditions. Those terms were discussed and a higher pay scale was agreed upon if voters approved Proposition Public Safety, according to city documents.
Proposition Public Safety would have imposed property and personal property taxes of $1 per $100 assessed valuation with the tax revenue funding new, increased pay ranges for both police and fire along with other needs of the police and fire departments. However, voters soundly rejected the proposal and that stalled substantial pay raises for now.
The agreement called for negotiations to reopen if the tax did not pass and a revised bargain was struck as a result of those talks. It includes pay ranges for union officers, which includes trainees, police officers, corporals and sergeants. The ranks of captain, chief and assistant chief are not union members, so those positions are not covered in the ranges.
FOP membership approved adoption of the agreement, which includes the pay scale it would establish.
Wage changes and all other provisions would go into effect Sept. 10 if council authorizes the agreement on Tuesday.
City Manager Nick Edwards presented a plan of action to council in mid-August that city officials in May would reassess how the larger wage increases for police and fire like those that were part of the Aug. 2 ballot measure might be achieved. In the intervening months, Edwards said the city would take steps to bolster voter confidence in the city.
Shelby Howard, a retired Joplin officer who is president of the FOP, said of the loss of Proposition Public Safety that "Obviously there is disappointment. Nobody likes taxes but we felt that was the best option at the time, so now we have to start working on something else."
He questioned whether any other measure would produce the amount of money needed to fund the higher pay scales and additional needs for both the police and fire departments.