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The Syracuse Police Department will establish a four-day work week and ten-hour days for officers. Both come after a piece of legislation that the Syracuse Common Council voted unanimously to approve at its Monday afternoon meeting.

The work week change is part of a new labor agreement between the city and the Police Benevolent Association, a labor union which represents 1,200 members of the New York State Agency Police Services unit.

With the new agreement, the police officers will also receive a 1.5% salary increase over a five-year period, beginning in January 2023 and ending in December 2027.

SPD hopes the new contract will improve recruitment and retention. The department saw a record 22 resignations and 37 retirements in 2022, syracuse.com reported.

Councilor Pat Hogan said that he believes increasing the pay for police officers will show them a better sense of respect, greater financial stability and an improved working environment, as well as reduce tensions between the officer union and the department.

If the city finds that the new work week system doesn’t meet their needs, a provision of the agreement will allow it to revert to a five-day work week with eight-hour days.

The Council also unanimously voted to waive a requirement that Department of Parks, Recreation & Youth Programs employees reside in Syracuse this summer. Councilwoman Rasheeda Caldwell, the chairperson of PRYP, proposed waiving the residency requirement to accommodate people looking to work in Syracuse City School District youth programs.

The decision will allow the department to hire SCSD employees who have expressed interest working at the camps, and who have experience working with the students.

The department can now move forward with planning new school summer camps that could create up to 40 new summer camp positions.

Other Business:

• Councilor Greene authorized a donation of Common Council Books to the Onondaga Historical Society. He said zoning does not have the space to keep the books from the years 1994-2000, and the city has reviewed the process. They received approval from NYS Archives for the transfer.
• The remaining budget of $251,170 from the American Rescue Plan Act will be used at Onondaga, Kirk and Schiller Parks to convert the pools to saltwater. These pools will continue to be managed without exceeding the cost of the budget in order to maintain summer leisure, and it was unanimously approved with TMI Sustainable Aquatics and Sundance Leisure.
• The city will provide new solid waste containers to residents through the new Residential Cart Program for Solid Waste Collection. Syracuse is now a Lead Agency for the program, which means they personally oversee the transition to the new containers.

Published on February 28, 2023 at 1:52 am

Contact Rosina: rlboehm@syr.edu