Under PBA Arbitration: Slight Delay in Pay Award in Nassau

By REUVEN BLAU

A contract award is currently being drafted by an arbitration panel for the Nassau County Police Benevolent Association, which will likely place the suburban force's salaries even further above their NYPD counterparts.

THOMAS R. SUOZZI: Trying to rein in costs.

County negotiators and the union originally agreed to require that the five-member arbitration panel handling the contract issue its award by June 15. The process, however, has taken a bit longer than initially expected, insiders said.

Four Years or More

"I think they needed a little more time to complete their writing," said one insider, noting that the prior arbitration award in 2002 was more than 100 pages. "I believe it's going to be this month."

The contract will cover either four or six years, sources said. Nassau Police Officers have worked under an expired contract since Jan. 1.

The situation has been shadowed by the county's looming budget deficit, which is due in part to lagging sales-tax revenues. Earlier this month, County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi stopped discretionary police overtime and ordered agency heads to hold supply purchases. Personnel costs have also contributed to the problem, Mr. Suozzi has said.

Nassau's 2,636 Police Officers are among the country's highest-paid. The average officer earns more than $100,000, including overtime and other benefits, according to county officials. The county also paid out $27.9 million in retirement benefits in 2005 to only 100 officers, according to reports.

The starting salary for a Nassau County Police Officer is $34,000, which rises to $91,737 after seven years on the job. By contrast, the NYPD pays new recruits $25,100 for their first six months. Their maximum salary is $59,588 after five years of service.

Since 2004, Mr. Suozzi has unsuccessfully tried to persuade the Nassau County Legislature to fund an outside review of the department. That issue, sources indicated last week, did not come up during the arbitration hearing before the panel that heard testimony from both parties in May.

The arbitration panel, which is being chaired by John Donohue, includes three mutually accepted neutral arbitrators, union president Gary DelaRaba, and the county's chief negotiator, Dan McCray. The neutrals besides Mr. Donohue are: Martin Scheinman and Howard Edelman.