Police Officers May Make More Than Their Supervisors Under New Law

The budget repair law will create an unequal pay situation among many Waukesha Police Department supervisors and union patrol officers, the members of the Human Resources Committee were told Wednesday night during a discussion about the effects of the law on employees.

The city will require all non-union employees to contribute 5.8 percent of their salary into the pension plan beginning March 25 when the budget repair law goes into effect. The non-union contributions is expected to save the city $290,000 from the next budget cycle, which is facing a near $1.5 million shortfall.

Union employees have their contracts expire at the end of December 2012 and can negotiate after that for wages only. Police and fire unions are not subject to the restrictions in collective bargaining that was approved last week by state lawmakers.

The supervisors are non-union employees and will be contributing 5.8 percent of their paychecks into the Wisconsin Retirement System. The union patrol officers are not being asked to make those contributions under the controversial legislation that was brought forward in February by Gov. Scott Walker.

The impact? Seven of the 18 supervisors at the police department will be taking home less in their paychecks when looking at their adjusted gross income compared to the union police officers they supervise, Jack said.

In the worst case, a sergeant could be taking home $9,000 more each year if that sergeant stepped down to be a patrol officer. In another case, a lieutenant, who has gone through two promotions, has an adjusted gross income that is less than the officers he supervises, Jack said.

City Administrator Lori Luther said city staff is considering potential ways to bridge the gap between supervisors and employees, including the possibility of creating extra paid days off work. That request, if brought forward, would have to be approved by the Common Council.

“It is also a reality that if and when positions become vacant in supervisory roles, there will be a lack of incentive for internal applications to apply for those promotions,” said Luther, adding that the disincentive would be a decreased paycheck.

However, it goes beyond the potential for an unwillingness for police officers to seek promotions. They could be seeking what was referenced during the meeting as a “demotion.”

“There has already been two supervisors from a local jurisdiction that have written to go back to a represented status,” said Jack, who told Patch after the meeting that the police department with that issue was in southeastern Wisconsin.

Luther told the committee that at some point city staff and the Common Council will have to examine wages and look at the current structure. Across the board raises that have been typical in the past isn’t going to cut it moving forward.

Initial discussions among city department heads is the consideration of moving to a merit-based pay system, Luther said, but that decision would be up to the Common Council.

“We will need to do something different,” Luther said. “We are not sure what that is yet.”

Common Council President Paul Ybarra, who is on the Human Resources Committee, said the merit-based wage system possibility is an interesting one. He noted that in corporate America, that system is used to reward those employees who are performing above their peers.

“I think what we are talking about here is unintended consequences,” Ybarra said. “I think these tools were crafted and created to try to help fill some gaps right now. I think that we are dealing with unintended consequences where an employee makes more than his or her supervisor.”