Middletown Settles With Police SOA Union; PBA Members Vote Tomorrow To Save 6 From Layoff

I don't have all the facts but according to a friend that attended this afternoon's special Middletown Township Committee meeting a contract settlement was reached with the Middletown Police Senior Officers Association (SOA) and a settlement with the Middletown PBA is pending union vote of approval scheduled for tomorrow morning.

Details of the settlement between Middletown and the SOA are as follows according to what I have been told:

• 4 year contract with salary increase of with 7.5% during length of contract broken down as follows - 1.5% 2% 2% 2%.
• No demotions or reduced pay for current Senior Officers.
• No layoffs of Senior Officers (thanks to 2 retirements instead)
• Members must contribute 25% of the cost of health plan if they stay with Township's current health care plan, otherwise they must switch to a HMO based plan that members must contribute a percentage of salary to participate in (details of this however are a little sketchy and more clarification is needed.

As for the terms of the contract settlement between the Township and the members of the Middletown PBA, terms were not announced officially because the PBA union will be holding a meeting with it's members Saturday morning (tomorrow) for ratification (terms are believed to be similar). Once the contract is ratified details will be released at Monday night's (May 2nd) Township Workshop meeting.

It was stated however, that if this contract between the PBA and the Township is ratified only 4 of the 10 planned police layoffs will take place , saving 6 positions.

More details as they become available over the next few day...