Eric Adams’ police deal borrows a bad de Blasio habit

– Advertisement –

Mayor Eric Adams’ new deal with the police union, his second major labor deal, could be worse.

It points to an unavoidable market reality: The NYPD has to pay rookies more to replace officers who retire or leave. and the mayor does Keep it below inflation for current executives.

Yet, we are giving a lot without asking for a lot in return – and we still can’t afford it, even in the short term. Taxpayers can pay for this after the contract expires.

First of all, well. The eight-year deal resolves an impasse that dates back to 2017, when the previous agreement expired.

Annual increases, retrospectively six years ago, range from 2.25% for 2017 to 4% for the following year, totaling 29.5%.

Inflation has risen by about 24.9% since the last time police officers got a pay hike in 2016.

So unless inflation eases significantly by next year — it’s running around 6% — veteran police officers will earn slightly less in basic pay than they did before.

But – and some big buts. First-year executives will earn a base salary of $53,790, a 27% increase over the current starting salary.

With the “bonus” everyone gets, as well as other miscellaneous cash payments, they’ll make closer to $60,000 before overtime.

Penalty: The starting salary would have to account for the erosion of the dollar or police recruitment would be even more difficult.

but the fifth year officers will excess Better: After the bonus but before overtime, they’ll earn $131,500, nearly 50% more than current fifth-year executives.

With overtime, it would not be unusual for executives with more than five years on the job to earn more than $200,000 a year.

The city says it will try to cut overtime, with a pilot that allows 10- to 12-hour straight-time shifts and fewer days worked per week, but makes no guarantees that it will happen.

OK, so let’s say policing is a profession, and we’re paying seasoned officers as highly skilled, experienced, educated New York City professionals.

Fair enough — but most six-figure professionals get nothing like the pension benefits uniformed city workers get, like retiring with half pay (including some overtime) after 22 years on the job.

And most six-figure professionals get no union protection from workplace accountability: If they screw up at work, they’re gone.

Higher pay may have been a good compromise in exchange for more accountability to benefit the city – but Adams only made half the trade here.

Another headache: The deal’s two final raises — 3.5% this year, 4% next year — exceed the wages Adams paid DC 37 in February to the city’s unionized civilian workforce. The DC 37 only increased by 3% for each of those two years.

This 4% example thus creates a new pattern and hurdle for city and state agencies as they negotiate with other unions.

For example, the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority is expected to reach an agreement with the transport workers’ union soon.

The MTA has only planned for 2% annual growth and is still facing massive losses. Now Labor will press for doubling it.

Even in the short term, the city will push to pay for the deal. Budgeters had planned only a 2.5% retroactive annual raise for uniformed employees through 2021 and 1.25% after that.

So $2 billion of the $5.5 billion cost over the next five years hasn’t been funded, even though the city faces a $3.2 billion shortfall next year.

The mayor is already unclear on how and when he’ll cut the retro-pay checks, likely increasing them over the years.

Retro pay funding the future is something Mayor Bill de Blasio invented — and state government must stop.

paid work Complete, Controlling it later is similar to borrowing for past operating expenses, which is considered after the financial crisis of the 1970s.

The mayor proposes closing the remaining gap with efficiency, efficiency, efficiency — a term he’s been repeating constantly and earlier this week asked city agencies for a new round of cuts, amounting to 3% of planned spending. is equal to 4%.

But he’s not leading by example: The police benevolence didn’t have to deliver a single guaranteed efficiency in return for Wednesday’s deal.

Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal.