AUBURN – Patrol officers have agreed to a proposed contract that gives them 5 percent raises for the next three years in exchange for paying a greater share of health insurance and agreeing to a more rigorous physical test.

Negotiations have been under way for nearly a year.

“I think its a credit to both sides that we just continued talking,” said Mark Adams, assistant city manager. “We managed to keep talking and listening and eventually we came up with something that worked.”

Local members of the patrol division of the Maine Association of Police voted to accept the contract Wednesday.

“We think it’s a fair agreement, all around,” said union president Chad Syphers. “We gave up some things we wanted, but we got good raises. I think we should be able to live with it.”

Now it must be ratified by the City Council. Councilors are scheduled to meet Monday in a worksession and Adams said the city may schedule a vote on the contract then.

Police would sign a one-year contract dating back to July, effectively keeping pay and health insurance in place at the current rates.

The agreement includes a new contract effective July 1 and good through 2007. Patrol officers would receive two annual raises each year for the next three years – a 3 percent performance raise on the anniversary of their date of hire and a 2 percent conversion on July 1 of each year.

Under the old contract, police received 3 percent annual raises coupled with a 2 percent raise for passing a physical assertion and agility test.

“We’ve simply converted the raise that came with the agility test and converted it into something new,” Adams said. “We just took money the city was already spending and put it into something that benefits the officers and helps the city.”

The physical test would become more rigorous under the new contract. Officers hired after July 2004 would be subject to discipline or dismissal if they could not pass it. Current officers couldn’t be disciplined, but would still be required to pass the test.

The contract also moves police to the same health insurance plan as all other city employees. Under that plan, employees pay higher co-payments and long-term care costs and the city’s premiums drop from $12,000 per employee to $10,000.

Police also agreed to pay 15 percent of their premiums beginning in July. They pay 10 percent under the old contract.

“Other departments are stepping down to 15 percent incrementally each year,” Syphers said. “They pay 10 percent one year, then 12.5 and then 15 percent. We’re making that move all at once.”

Also, according to the new contract, the police chief could negotiate with experienced officers and offer them a pay scale as if they had been Auburn officers all along. The union had opposed that clause.

An agreement would cap almost a year’s worth of difficult negotiations, angry public meetings and city investigations.

Negotiations broke down last August after police arrested Mayor Normand Guay. Although Guay passed a Breathalyzer test and was never charged, officers maintained they were correct in arresting him.

The city hired outside attorneys to review the arrest and disciplined several officers – including Syphers – for their roles. The union has appealed the disciplinary actions.

“Just signing a contract doesn’t mean that you’ve settled all of the issues of trust for both sides,” Adams said. “But I think this is a good foot to start out on. It’s a good place for both sides.”

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