New Jersey police departments are joining the Blue Envelope Program, geared toward making police stops less stressful for autistic drivers.
CLIFTON -- The city continued its push to make police salaries more competitive by adopting a new pay ordinance this week.
The contract for Policemen's Benevolent Association Local 36 members, which City Manager Nick Villano said is still being finalized, is part of the process to end a decade-long revolving door of officers who left for higher-paying departments soon after they were trained.
Police contracts involve step guides, years of service and position.
Since 2013, the lowest step for newly hired officers in the city started at around $30,000, while some other departments in the North Jersey area started officers in the mid-$40,000 to $50,000 range. Due to the starting salary, the city lost dozens of officers to the departments with higher starting salaries and better step setups.
Clifton Police Department's new starting salary
The new contract, which both sides have agreed to in principle, increases the annual starting salary for officers to $44,408.
A major change in compensation occurred in 2022, midway through the contract, when starting salaries for new officers increased from $33,000 to $40,000 annually.
Monday's vote continued to build on that change. The starting salary will jump to more than $46,000 in 2025, $48,000 in 2026, and $50,000 in 2027.
The officers at the top steps of the guide will also see significant increases: Those making $133,000 in 2024 will go to $138,000 in 2025, to 144,819 in 2026 and to $150,000 in 2027.
Police Chief Thomas Rinaldi noted in a memo to the City Council last month that "contracts to [the past and future] have corrected retention issues the department had been suffering."
The cost to taxpayers for the new contract, Councilman Joe Kolodziej estimates, is about $1.4 million for the first year.
The City Council also introduced an ordinance on Monday to increase the table of organization, or the size of the department, from 171 to 185 members. Kolodziej said the addition of officers will cost taxpayers close to $1 million. The ordinance will still have to be adopted at a subsequent council meeting.
Kolodziej said the total municipal property increase from the raises and additional personnel is likely to be around 4 tax points, or about $68 annually for the average city home, assessed at $170,000.