Ankeny City Council Approves Agreements with Police, Fire and AFSCME Unions

The Ankeny City Council on Monday night unanimously approved an agreement between the city and the Ankeny police union, completing union negotiations with the city’s three bargaining units.

The city council previously approved AFSCME and fire union contracts at a meeting last month. All three contracts are for a term of five years and include employee contributions to the city’s health plan and a restructuring of union employee pay matrices.

“Achieving five year contracts with the City’s labor unions is good for taxpayers,” said Ankeny City Manager Jim Spradling. “It provides budget certainty and stability and because of the restructuring of the pay matrices, the City is more comparable with other cities in the Des Moines Metropolitan area.”

Currently, there are 100 city employees covered under collective bargaining, representing approximately 48 percent of the city’s workforce.

Highlights of the three contracts include:

• An average of 2 percent annual cost of living over the five year period.
• Health insurance employee premium up to 10 percent over the five year period.
• Redesigned pay plans
• Implementation of the City’s wellness program

“This demonstrates the importance of good labor relations between the city and its bargaining units,” said Spradling. “Working together we were able to reach agreements that met city council objectives, while preserving and respecting employee bargaining rights”