Close to 19% pay hike for NYPD sergeants in tentative deal, Mayor Eric Adams says

NYPD sergeants will get a pay raise of nearly 19%, retroactive to Dec. 10, 2021, under terms of a tentative contract announced Tuesday by Mayor Eric Adams, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and other officials.

The raises would be spread out over a five-year period, with a final 4% wage increase in December 2025, according to chief city negotiator Renee Campion. The new contract, if adopted by rank and file members of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, will expire on Dec. 9, 2026, Campion said.

The tentative agreement was announced by Adams, Tisch and SBA officials at a joint news conference. The deal was heralded as one that would erase a historic pay disparity between sergeants, the front line police supervisors, and the rank and file cops they supervise.

"It’s a well-earned, long overdue, wage increase," said Adams, a former captain in the NYPD.

The negotiations were described by Adams and other officials as intense, with the SBA digging in on the need for a pay increase.

While there were no specific dollar amounts announced, SBA president Vincent Vallelong told Newsday the median sergeant base pay would move from $120,000 a year to about $160,000 under the new contract.

Members will put the contract up for a vote within the next month.

One new component, which had reportedly been a sticking point in the negotiations, would be the implementation of a 12-hour shift pilot program for the sergeants. Under the deal, some 50 volunteers would be able to work a 12-hour shift to supervise rank and file cops already working in that program, officials said.

In a statement released separately, Police Benevolent Association president Patrick Hendry, whose union is covered by a separate contract, said the 12-hour, as well as 10-hour shifts were the emerging gold standard in law enforcement`and something already done on a pilot basis in the NYPD with rank and file officers.

Such tours of duty give officers more regularly scheduled days off to decompress and spend times with their families, Hendry said.

"With sergeants now integrated into the pilot program we look forward to continuing to work with the department to refine and enhance it," said Hendry, whose union is expected to begin its own contract negotiations over the summer.

Sergeants have historically fallen behind when it comes to pay increases in the department because some of their prior contracts had been extended without additional raises, Vallelong said.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.