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BY MICHAEL OLOHAN
OF NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
Englewood, New Jersey — With contract negotiations between Englewood and its local police union only recently commencing, council members appeared ready to add one more potential item up for negotiation.
Any proposal for increased “extra duty” pay—compensation for off-duty Englewood police officers who perform traffic and safety duties for utilities and contractors working in Englewood—should be part of city-union contract negotiations, said several council members to Northern Valley Press.
Without commenting at a March 20 public hearing, the city council voted unanimously to table an ordinance to increase police extra-duty pay rates upon concerns from a few council members who later said that they believed the extra-duty pay increases should be part of ongoing city-police contract negotiations.
‘Broader context’
“This year is a year where the city is negotiating compensation packages with the police, and I believe any conversations about compensation should be held within that broader context and be made on the advice of our labor counsel,” emailed Councilwoman Cheryl Rosenberg March 23.
The tabled ordinance was set to increase police extra-duty pay rates from $65 an hour to $75 an hour, and also increased administrative fees from $20 to $30 per project, reported
Last year, former councilman Eugene Skurnick opposed the extra-duty pay increase, charging that police extra-duty pay rates, though reimbursed by utilities, should not be a “giveaway” before then-upcoming city-police contract negotiations.
Currently, city-police contract negotiations are ongoing, confirmed Councilman Michael Cohen. An attorney with Genova Burns, Joseph Hannon, reached March 27 said he could not provide any information regarding contract discussions.
On Feb. 20, council members voted unanimously to introduce the extra-duty ordinance but had questions about whether outside contractors/utilities reimburse the city for extra-duty in a timely manner as well as what the city could do to expedite such payments from contractors.
The city pays officers for extra-duty hours and is later reimbursed by utilities/contractors who are billed by the city for the hours worked.
$75 per hour ‘median range’
City Manager Ed Hynes told council members Feb. 20 that police had not had an extra-duty pay increase in a decade, and that $75 was a “median range” in extra-duty hourly fees in a survey he conducted, with some towns reimbursing as high as $125 per hour.
Hynes informed council members that last year the city collected $86,150 for rental of police cars—older cars not used for patrol—and $23,170 for administrative fees paid by contractors. The $86,150 went for new equipment in police cars and $23,170 went into the city’s surplus fund, Hynes said.
‘Fair to all sides’
“It [ordinance] has to do with compensation. It should all take place within that [negotiation] framework. We have to look at it, total compensation. That’s going to be part of the discussion for contract negotiations. And we need to deal with all of this stuff at one time,” said Councilman Charles Cobb, reached March 27.
“We want to be fair to all sides. And that it’s been really thought through,” added Cobb.
Rosenberg emphasized the council’s support for local police and firefighters.
“First and foremost, I am 100 percent supportive of our civil servants being compensated appropriately and fairly for any work they do… I firmly believe the entire governing body wants to support our police and fire departments that protect our city,” said Rosenberg via email.
Englewood’s police department includes 81 officers, including Chief Lawrence Suffern, two captains, five lieutenants, 10 sergeants, 10 detectives and 53 uniformed officers.
An online Englewood budget lists 2017 police salaries and wages at $12,155,000. An overtime line lists $600,000 for 2017. No listing for extra-duty fees paid out to officers is included.
Repeated efforts to reach council president Wayne Hamer and Englewood Police Benevolent Association Local 216 president Tim Barrett for comment were not returned by press time.
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