El Paso, Texas (KTSM) — The El Paso City Council unanimously approved a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the El Paso Municipal Police Officers’ Association (EPMOA) at its meeting Tuesday, March 28.
The agreement takes effect Sept. 1 and lasts through Aug.31, 2027.
“This agreement will help us retain experienced officers and attract new recruits by paying in first or second place for officer pay in all category levels when compared to peer cities,” said City Manager Tommy Gonzalez. “We have replaced equipment, vehicles, and motorcycles; and we have increased the number of officers with the 2015-16 Hire 300 Plan. We have also increased staffing with more training academies budgeted each year since the passage of the 2015 Strategic Plan.
“These recommendations that the Council approved today demonstrate how well a strategic plan can work for an organization our size,” Gonzalez added.
The EPMOA overwhelmingly approved accepting the proposed agreement on March 19. More than 1,000 association members voted in favor of the new agreement while only 10 members voted against it.
The four-year CBA includes across-the-board pay raises and annual cost-of-living increases. The city management team also recommended an increase in pay for cadets of $10,000. This increase is not a part of the CBA, as cadets are not police officers till they finish training. Some of the salary increases include:
- Police Officers: 13% increase in the entry salary
- Advanced Police Officer/Detective: 13% increase in the entry salary
- Senior Police Officer/Detective: 15.4% increase
- Sergeant: 17.1% increase
Cadets will get a 13 percent increase when they become police officers and a 2.5 percent increase each year after.
The City’s Police and Fire Departments make up about 60 percent of the City’s overall budget at about $305.7 million for Public Safety in FY 2023.
