Sudbury has reached a settlement on a new three-year contract with the town’s police union which will cover the period July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2012. At the recommendation of Town Manager Maureen G. Valente, the Board of Selectmen voted at their meeting of Monday, Feb. 8 to ratify the terms of the new contract. Included in the contract terms are the same changes in the town’s group health insurance program previously accepted by all union and non-union employees of the Sudbury Public Schools and all town non-union employees.
In the first year of the contract, the premium shift will be 5 percent for both the HMO plan and the PPO plan offered by the town through its carrier, Blue Cross/Blue Shield. In both the second and third years of the contract, additional premium shifts of 2.5 percent will be realized. At the end of the contract term, the percentage contributions toward health insurance premiums made by the town and the employees respectively will have shifted from 90 percent town and 10 percent employee for the HMO plan to 80 percent town and 20 percent employee, and from 75 percent town and 25 percent employee to 65 percent town and 35 percent employee for the PPO plan. New employees – those hired by the town after July 1, 2009 – will contribute 30 percent toward the premium cost for the HMO plan and 45 percent of the premium for the PPO plan.
In addition, the plans have been modified to a new benefit design based on the benefits available through health insurance plans offered by the state’s Group Insurance Commission (GIC). While it was concluded that for a number of reasons it was not in the Town’s best interest to join the GIC, the new plan designs, known as "rate-saver" plans, feature benefit levels consistent with those offered by most GIC health insurance plans. The new plan design has already resulted in lower monthly premium rates for both the HMO and PPO health insurance plans.
The contract also provides for a 3 percent across the board wage adjustment for union personnel in the first year of the contract in exchange for making the health insurance concessions, and it will be effective retroactively to Nov. 1, 2009. The contract also provides for a 0 percent wage adjustment in year two, with a new top step in the salary schedule that is 2.5 percent higher than the current top step, and a 0 percent wage adjustment in the third year.
Across the state, municipalities have been negotiating with their police unions regarding the future of the so-called Quinn Bill, the police educational incentive program which grants wage increases to police officers who attain college degrees, since the state announced it was reducing reimbursements to towns for its share of the costs of that program. The town and union have agreed that in Sudbury, current employees will continue to receive these benefits in exchange for financial concessions, including ending completely the longevity pay benefit, reducing the hazardous duty stipend by $100 annually, and adding 15 minutes to the end of each shift worked. However, new employees – those hired by the town after July 1, 2009 – will no longer be able to participate in the Quinn Bill, but instead will be eligible to receive an educational incentive benefit under a modified version of the program which existed before the town adopted the Quinn Bill program in 1983.
