Greenfield Police Union Reportedly Agrees to Voluntary Pension, Health Care Contributions

Greenfield police officers will pay more into their pensions and health care plans under a new agreement spurred by changes Gov. Scott Walker and state Republicans made to collective-bargaining rights in the state. 

Under the agreement, the Greenfield Police Association union reportedly voted to have its members voluntarily contribute the same amounts toward their pensions and health care plans as other Greenfield public employees.

The agreement would make the union one of the first police unions in the state to do so, according to Greenfield Mayor Michael Neitzke.

Neitzke told Greenfield Patch that the police union had agreed to the voluntary contributions of 12.6 percent toward health care and 5.9 percent toward pensions, the same rates other public employees contribute as mandated by Acts 10 and 32, legislation put forth by Walker in February.

Neitzke, who like many municipal leaders did not want protective services excluded from the mandatory contributions, initially asked both the police and fire unions to voluntarily . Since then, the State Legislature allowed municipalities to redesign health plans for police and fire unions, plans not subject to bargaining during future negotiations.

In an attempt to make up a shortfall in next year’s budget, Neitzke again provided both unions the opportunity to voluntarily contribute in recent weeks, or be offered the non-negotiable health care plan.

“Without those savings by the city, I explained, we would be forced to consider offering a much different health plan to them, and any plan offered, by state law, would not be subject to negotiations, which are soon to start,” Neitzke said.

According to Neitzke, the police union agreed to the pension and health care contributions instead of being handed a new health care plan that would have included higher premiums and co-pays.

“I am pleased that the police union agreed to accept,” Neitzke said. “Concurrently, all police supervisors and command staff will be contributing towards their pensions, and begin paying more for health insurance. Additionally, the Fire Department command staff has voluntarily agreed to do the same.”

Greenfield Local 1963, the city’s firefighter union, however, voted against the voluntary contributions, according to Neitzke. Efforts to reach union president Reed Matilla were unsuccessful.

In a letter emailed to Greenfield Patch on Thursday, police union president Det. Brent Hart neither confirmed nor denied the voluntary contributions, saying the union is actively engaged in negotiations with the city and “hopefully both sides will reach a fair and equitable agreement in the near future.”

“The Greenfield Police Association understands the complexities of the current state of the economy, budget shortfalls and the impact of Governor Walker’s bill on public employees,” Hart said in his letter. “Our association recently faced a difficult decision regarding these issues: healthcare vs. financial.

“Our first priority was to safeguard our healthcare – with concessions – for our members and their families. All too often, some individuals at different levels of government lose sight of the dangers associated with law enforcement. Our recent increase of police contacts with violent offenders steered the membership in part to make concessions for healthcare benefits.”

Neitzke was unsure how much the police union’s concessions would save this year, but estimated if the police and fire unions both had agreed, it would have saved roughly $500,000 toward this year’s budget.

The two-tiered health insurance contracts, which were presented to the Finance Committee this week, are expected to be signed at Tuesday’s . Neitzke said he gave a deadline of Monday, Sept. 26, for both unions’ decisions. When asked what he would do if the fire union were to revote in favor of voluntarily contributing before Tuesday, he said, “I always listen.”