Crime & Safety

Lake Forest Park, Police Guild Reach Contract Agreement

The new contract includes just two wage adjustments in 3 years, and more cost-participation in health insurance by Lake Forest Park Police employees.

Lake Forest Park City Council unanimously approved a long-awaited collective bargaining agreement with the Lake Forest Park Police Guild at its regular meeting on April 25, 2013.

The department has been without a current agreement since December, but the city and the Guild have been negotiating details for a new three-year contract for nearly a year, since last June, the city said in a press release lauding the "good-faith efforts" by the Guild to keep with the process until an agreement could be reached.

“The reason this took so long to do is because we were trying to achieve some very difficult things,” said Mayor Mary Jane Goss. “Because of decreased City revenues, we were asking our police department to accept higher cost-sharing for their medical benefits.  At the same time, we were only able to offer the Guild very modest wage increases.  I applaud the Guild for recognizing the budget realities that the City is facing and doing their part to keep the city on sustainable financial path.”

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A tentative agreement was reached in early April, 2013.  The three-year contract provides for no wage increase in 2013, a 1 percent wage adjustment in 2014, and a 1.5 percent wage adjustment in 2015. The previous contract, which covered 2010-2012, included annual wage adjustments based on a formula for adjusting wages based on inflation, resulting in contractual increases of around 2 percent to 2.65 percent each year. In the new contract, the Guild agreed to waive the CPI formula and accept the flat increases, citing the city's financial position. The contract can be read here.

The most significant aspect of the contract is that it provides for changes in City healthcare funding which will bring the total compensation and benefits costs for the group within the anticipated general fund revenue growth for the life of the agreement, the city said in the release. 

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Under the agreement provides the City will fund health insurance plan at the level of the lower cost plan between the two existing health plans. Employees who wish to stay on the higher cost health plan can pay the difference out-of-pocket. The Agreement also increases the percentage of monthly premium that employees pay for dependent coverage. The contract also provides for a joint Union/Management Committee will study lower cost health insurance options for the future. 

“We appreciated that the City was open and direct about the financial impact behind each benefit package we explored. The rising cost of health care premiums is becoming the greatest uncertain variable for public safety employees and City budgets alike. The Guild negotiations committee worked hard to find a creative solution which worked for the City, but also took care of the majority of our members,“  said Jackson Beard, Lake Forest Park Guild President.

The Lake Forest Park police department is accredited under Washington State Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, which requires police departments to operate under industry best practices and standards.  The Lake Forest Park police department has a total of 22 employees.


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