Report: Suffolk, police union reach 18% pay hike over 5 years in new contract agreement

Suffolk County and the police department's largest labor union have reached an agreement for a new proposed contract that would give police officers an 18% pay increase over five years and allow them to reach the top of the pay scale in a shorter period of time, according to a new report.

The top salary for an officer, which doesn't include anticipated overtime and other stipends and assignment pay, is $189,801, the report said. Suffolk police officers are among the highest paid in the country.

The Suffolk Legislature's Budget Review Office, which analyzed the memorandum of agreement between the county and the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association for the contract covering Jan. 1, 2025-Dec. 31, 2029, ultimately signed off on the feasibility of the agreement.

The Budget Review Office's report projects that salary costs, as well as longevity pay, stipends and other costs such as retirement payments, would total $229 million through the contract period.

"Our independent analysis concludes that the Executive's fiscal impact for the contract is reasonable," the report said.

Michael Martino, a spokesman for Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine, declined a request for an interview with Romaine Monday.

Martino said the contract is scheduled to go before the legislature's committee on government operations next week.

The Police Benevolent Association did not respond to a request for comment.

Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst), the presiding officer of the Suffolk Legislature, which will vote on the contract, also did not return a request for comment.

The 18% increase in base pay would take place over five years — 3% in 2025; 4% in 2026; 4% in 2027; 3% in 2028 and 4% in 2029, the report said.

The agreement also reduces the number of steps in the salary schedule from 14 to 10, shortening the time it takes to reach the top step to nine years, the report said.

Budget review estimates that the change will cost the county $10.7 million for a class of 100 new police recruits.

"The new salary schedule is also likely to introduce volatility to future budgets, especially in the years when classes hired under the new agreement reach top step," the report said.

The salary would jump $55,765, or 42%, from the second to top step — from $134,036 to the top step salary of $189,801.

The last PBA contract, from 2019 to 2024, provided compounded pay increases of more than 13% by the end of the contract, Newsday previously reported. That contract retained a 12-step system for reaching the top scale pay, Newsday reported.

In the new proposed deal, longevity pay, which begins in the sixth year of employment, would also increase $25 annually to $750 by the end of the contract, the report said.

Officers who work for the police department for 20 years or more would receive an additional annual longevity payment of $2,000, which will cost the county more than $5.7 million from 2025 to 2029, the report said.

Officers assigned to special sections, such as the emergency services and motorcycle sections, would continue to receive supplemental task force stipends valued at 2.5% of the top step salary, the report said.

The union's own leadership, including the PBA Board of Governors and PBA delegates, would also receive the 2.5% increase.

Along with officers assigned to a medical unit that would receive a 4.5% increase in assignment pay, the task force stipend and assignment pay would total $1.3 million, the report said.

With Sandra Peddie

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.