This article compares total salary between municipal police departments in the Capital Region
In this article we compare 2022 total salary, defined as (total base pay + longevity bonus + holiday pay + shift differential pay) between various municipal police departments in the capital region.
This data was collected through public record requests, City Council Meeting agenda and minutes, and seethroughny. We have attached the relevant contracts & Memorandum of Understanding at the end of this article.
*Be advised that the City's of Albany and Troy do not have their PBA contracts available online. Therefore we have contacted these departments to request copies of their PBA contract. As that information becomes available we will update this article.
For the purpose of this analysis we compared the proposed total salary of a Patrol Officer with 10 years of service in Saratoga Springs to municipal departments across the capital region.
There are several factors that influence a police officers total salary beyond just base pay.
These accelerators include Longevity Bonus, Holiday Pay and Shift Differential.
Longevity Bonus is an annual bonus based on years of service. At 10 years of service an SSPD Patrol Officer receives an annual stipend of $1500
Holiday Pay is an annual bonus given to each police officer in the department equal to a days work for each holiday listed in the contract. Not every police department receives holiday pay bonuses. SSPD patrol officers are paid 10 hours of pay for 12 annual holidays regardless of whether or not they work those days.
Finally Shift Differential which is the additional pay per hour a patrol officer receives for working "undesirable shifts,”think overnights. Some departments in our analysis do not offer any shift differential pay. Schenectady police officers do not get any shift differential pay. Colonie gets a modest increase of $.40 or $.35 per hour depending on the shift. Saratoga Springs Patrol officers receive either $2.07 or $3.10 more per hour for working "undesirable shifts."
Based on these factors we find that the proposed contract would make the Saratoga Springs Police Department the highest paid police department in the region, and that is without accounting for healthcare benefits, retirement healthcare benefits and other fringe benefits awarded to them in the contract.
Our analysis finds that the proposed contract would pay a Patrol Officer w/ 10 years experience working Shift 3, 33% more than a patrol officer with the same service time in Glens Falls. ~20% more than Glenville. ~9% more than Colonie and ~6.1% more than a patrol officer with the same service time working in Schenectady.
But maybe Saratoga Springs is just way more dangerous than other municipalities in the Capital Region and that additional risk is what warrants higher pay for SSPD officers?
*data from bestplaces.net; scale of 1-100 w/ 1 = best and 100 = worst
Not exactly. Saratoga Springs Police Officers earn much more than more officers in neighboring Schenectady despite having a fraction of the violent crime.
In fact, the rate of violent crime in Saratoga Springs is significantly below both the regional average, state average and national average.
Conclusion:
Despite Saratoga Springs PBA being under contract until 2025, Public Safety Commissioner, James Montagnino decided to reopen contract negotiations in an effort to eliminate the 12 hour work schedule and replace it with a 10 hour schedule.
In order to make the PBA agree to the change in contract, Commissioner Montagnino gave the PBA a blank check to reward themselves with any level of compensation desired.
As a result the SSPD will become the highest paid police officers in the region, without even accounting for Healthcare and Retirement benefits which we will get to in a later article.
When negotiating contract with any municipal bargaining group the politician is supposed to represent the side of the taxpayers. Clearly that was not the case in this instance.
Commissioner Montagnino's contract is akin to political malpractice as taxpayers got NOTHING in return for huge increases in total salary.
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