WESTBROOK – The Westbrook Police Association has ratified a new three-year contract, which now goes before the City Council for final approval.

On Dec. 19, the police union approved a new three-year deal with the city, said Westbrook City Administrator Jerre Bryant. This is the second of five labor contracts to be settled after a negotiation period that has gone on for more than 10 months. Last week, the council gave its preliminary approval to a contract with the General Unit, which covers a wide range of positions in city government.

The city is in negotiations with all of its unions, and is still bargaining with representatives from the Westbrook Fire/Rescue Department union, the Westbrook Public Services unit and the Westbrook Public Safety Dispatchers.

Like the General Unit contract, the police contract runs retroactively, from July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2015.

Bryant said the city administration would bring the police contract before the council on Monday, Jan. 7, and it is expected that the council would also hold a second and final vote on the General Unit contract at that same meeting.

The terms of the police contract are similar to the one recently approved by the General Unit, where the city realized some cost savings by switching insurance plans, while providing the same level of coverage. Unlike the General Unit contract, where the city was also able to realize some savings by making changes in the pension program, all members of the police union are covered by the Maine State Retirement system, where costs are fixed, so the city was unable to make changes there.

Bryant said that city officials are pleased with the contract.

“(It’s a) very good thing,” he said. “We’re achieving what we want. We’re controlling costs but continuing to supply strong benefits to our employees.”

Sean Lally, the vice president of the Westbrook Police Association, said the union was also pleased with the deal.

“We’re excited that we’ve come to an agreement,” he said. “We think it’s a fair deal for both parties. It was a good negotiation. We’re just glad we have a new three-year contract going forward and we appreciate the taxpayers, the people who foot the bill.”

Liam Gallagher, the city’s human resources generalist, said like with the General Unit contract, the savings in health insurance for the police would be realized by switching insurance plans, while keeping the same provider. Gallagher said the new plan has a premium that is 19 percent lower than the current premium, and that savings will be passed onto the employees. Gallagher added that the city will still be paying 88 percent of the premium for employee health insurance and the employee will pay 12 percent.

The new plan has a $500 deductible, where the previous plan had none, but, said Gallagher, the members of the police union would benefit from a city-funded health reimbursement account, which will cover 75 percent of the deductible and other costs incurred by the employee.

Bryant said the 88 percent coverage of the health insurance premiums is about a normal rate for a municipality, though he admitted Westbrook might pay a slightly higher percentage than some surrounding towns.

“It’s probably a little higher than average,” he said. “But it’s not greatly out of the ordinary.”

While the city is realizing some cost savings with changes to the insurance portion of the police contract, the contract calls for increased wages, as well. Gallagher said in all three years of the contract, wages will go up by 2.25 percent, for a total of 6.75 percent over the three-year life of the contract.

While he wouldn’t give specifics on the ongoing negotiations, Bryant said last week that he expects that at least two of the remaining three contracts would be settled in the near future.

“I’m optimistic that they will be ratified by the union memberships prior to the end of the year,” he said.

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