This evening, the City Council’s Committee on Finance referred and approved the Mayor’s multi-year contract between the City of Providence and the Fraternal Order of Police Union (FOP) Lodge No. 3. The contract will be sent to the full Council for vote and passage.
“The administration is duty-bound to negotiate union contracts upon completion of past contracts, and this contract with the FOP is no different. As presented to the Committee on Finance, it was our obligation to ensure that the contract was executed with our taxpayers’ best interest in mind. This precedent-setting pension reform contract will be decreasing the City’s pension contribution, which will have an accumulative savings of $31 Million. It is in no way a fix to the City’s long-term pension liability, but it is a much-needed savings. I want to thank my colleagues on the Committee on Finance, the Council’s finance team, the City’s finance team, and the FOP for their hard work and their shared goal of ensuring a fair and fiscally responsible contract,” stated Chairman of the Committee on Finance and City Council Majority Whip John J. Igliozzi, Esq (Ward 7).
The contract approved by the Committee on Finance is a 4-year contract that will bring the members of FOP Lodge No. 3 more in line with the other Rhode Island municipality police departments. As the largest police department in the state, before the contract, the members’ base wage rates were in the bottom 25-percent in the state, and with this contract, they will be within the top 10 percent.
“We are committed to working with the administration to increase our diversion programs and family services go-teams. However, the FOP has been working without a contract since 2019, and to avoid costly arbitration, it was prudent that Mayor Elorza and his team came to an agreement with the union. This contract is unique because it addresses one of the City’s most pressing issues – its pension liability. Once passed, this contract includes serious and meaningful pension reforms, which are much needed. Further, this agreement will save taxpayers millions of dollars through cost savings from health insurance and retirement contributions. These are important steps in moving the needle to address our shared goal of creating a more robust diversion program and improving our residents’ quality of life. I, too, wish to extend my thanks to the leadership of the FOP Lodge No. 3, the City’s finance team, as well as the Council’s finance team for their hard work,” stated Vice-Chair of the Committee on Finance and City Council Majority Leader Jo-Ann Ryan (Ward 5).
In addition to the FOP contract, the Committee on Finance is committed to working with community partners, the administration, and the FOP to improve and grow the Police Department’s diversion programming. Whereby ensuring that distress calls that don’t necessarily warrant an armed response, but might need the response of a social worker or clinician, has more funding and will be better equipped to help those in crisis in a way that our Police members are not trained to do.
Chairman Igliozzi continued, “In the upcoming fiscal budgets, we will be allocating more dollars to the City’s Diversion programs and are in full support of expanding our family services go-teams to help the most vulnerable amongst us. It is our goal to grow and build out a program that will have continued success and the ability to keep assisting and putting those in crisis with the help that they need.”
The contract will be sent to the City Council and requires two passages before it can go into effect. The contract can be found here: FOP Lodge No. 3 Union Contract
