New Police Contract Leaves Bloomberg's Property Tax Plan on the Table

The police contract that Michael Bloomberg warned could wind up costing tax payers their property tax break has just been settled. And the seven percent property tax is still on the table, according to mayoral spokesman Jason Post.

“While we’re still analyzing the impact of the award, the mayor remains committed to continued property tax relief,” Post told me just now.

Starting salaries for city police officers will jump from $25,100 to $35,881. More significantly, about 23,000 officers will get salary increases that, combined with givebacks form the union, will cost the city 7.41 percent. That’s 1.16 percent higher than the 6.24 percent salary raise other public unions received.

That additional 1.16 percent salary increase doesn’t break the pattern set by city deals with other public unions, Post said. It actually is a reinstatement of a “uniform differential,” or slightly higher pay, that the city has historically paid uniform officers, according to Post.

The mayor had warned earlier this month that such renegotiations with other unions could be expensive and force the city to give up plans to offer property tax breaks.

The binding agreement came from the Public Employees Relations Board and was agreed to by Bloomberg’s administration, but objected to by the Patrolmen Benevolent Association, whose president said he was “disappointed” with the deal and that city police would still seek work in better-paying, "less-challenging" suburban areas.