Police contract approved for 3 percent increase in Northumberland Borough

Mar. 3—NORTHUMBERLAND — The seven officers of the Northumberland Borough Police Department Union have a new contract with a 3 percent increase.

At Tuesday night's public meeting, borough council members unanimously accepted the five-year collective bargaining agreement for five full-time and two part-time officers. The police budget is $426,516 for 2021.

"I appreciate the professionalism when we were meeting to negotiate the contract," said borough Vice President Frank Wetzel. "Any time we can negotiate a contract and make it go out to an arbitrator saves the borough money. I think we're doing well and the group of officers we have right now are fantastic."

Borough Police Chief C.L. "Butch" Kriner is not part of the police union. No officer was present to represent the union.

The health care plan is not as expensive, and the borough agreed to pay the difference in the co-pays, borough manager Jan Bowman said.

This negotiation also went much smoother than the last contract. The previous contract went into arbitration, while the borough was represented by different council members, said Bowman.

The new contract is retroactive to Jan. 1. The COVID-19 pandemic caused delays in meeting between the two negotiation parties, she said.

"We have a good contract that we all worked together on," said borough council President Paul Ruane.

The borough council members also hired Rebecca Kline as the new part-time receptionist and administrative assistant at $12.25 an hour for 20 hours a week. She was chosen from a pool of three other candidates.

"She was the manager of the pool in 2013," said Ruane. "She's full of energy and ready to go."

In other business, the borough council members paid off the remaining $18,000 on a 2019 Dodge Charger, using the parking meter funds. That leaves approximately $9,000 left in the fund and also saves the borough $600 in interest, according to Council Member Ellie Rees.