NEW DEAL WOULD GIVE GARDENS COPS 12% RAISES
Competition from Sheriff’s Office leads to extra 6 percent.
Fearing an exodus to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, Palm Beach Gardens is poised to offer its police officers sizable raises that aren’t part of their original agreement.
Palm Beach Gardens staff, facing the possibility of losing up to 14 officers to PBSO, met with Police Benevolent Association representatives and hammered out a deal: city police will get an extra 6 percent raise and an increase in salary range. The City Council will need to approve the deal.
Those raises will be in addition to the previously negotiated 6 percent raises scheduled to take effect Oct. 1, giving officers a 12 percent salary increase.
The City Council will vote on the changes at its meeting Thursday at 7 p.m. The union voted 93-5 in favor of the changes on July 11.
The salary increases are expected to cost $1.67 million next year and an additional $277,443 this year.
The changes also boost the minimum salary for an officer from $50,909 to $54,000 and raises the maximum to $84,000. Police sergeants, communications operators and communications supervisors also will see their salary ranges increase under the revised agreement.
Palm Beach Gardens is about two years into a collective bargaining agreement with the PBA that runs through Sept. 30, 2019. When fully staffed, the department has 112 sworn officers. Two positions are vacant, city spokeswoman Candice Temple said.
Of the officers who said they intended to leave for PBSO, one submitted a resignation last week, she said.
Losing officers to PBSO isn’t a problem that’s unique to Palm Beach Gardens, Palm Beach County PBA President John Kazanjian said. Palm Springs, Riviera Beach, the Martin County Sheriff ’s Office and even the Broward County Sheriff’s Office “better step it up, or they’re going to
bail out,” he said.
“In our industry, everybody knows if you can get to PBSO, that’s a home run,” said Kazanjian, who worked for the Sheriff ’s Office for 30 years.
Not only do deputies make more money, they spend less on health insurance and have more opportunities to work on specialty units than they would at smaller agen- cies, Kazanjian said.
Municipal departments took away benefits in 2008 and 2009 when the recession hit and never caught up, he said.
“A lot of them are behind the 8-ball,” Kazanjian said.
Palm Beach Gardens is the first city in Kazanjian’s 11 1/2 years on the job as union president to offer more money to hang onto officers, he said.
The city tries to offer salaries competitive with the top three to five comparable municipalities, but the local law enforcement mar- ket and societal conditions have made it more challeng- ing to recruit and retain qualified police.
Before the changes, Palm Beach Gardens ranked fifth. If the changes are approved, the city will be second only to Boca Raton, Temple said. An officer at the beginning of Boca Raton’s step plan earns a salary of about $66,170 per year.
PBSO was offering Palm Beach Gardens officers a sal- ary of about $63,500, which is in the middle of their plan, Temple said.
Boca Raton has about 98,000 residents compared with Palm Beach Gardens’ 55,000.
Jupiter’s salary range for a police officer is $50,253 to $79,347. The starting salary will increase to $51,258 as of Oct. 1, according to Jupiter Police spokeswoman Kristin Rightler. The town has had two officers leave for the Sheriff’s Office in the past two years, she said. Jupiter has a population of about 65,000, according to 2017 U.S. Census Bureau estimates.