The Santa Ana Police Officers Association has negotiated an immediate 4% raise along with additional pay increases in a contract that will be presented to the City Council for approval on Tuesday, June 18.
The proposed contract is estimated to cost about $27.2 million over the next three and a half years. Members would get an additional 4% increase in 2025 and in 2026 to their base salaries. If approved, the contract would be effective retroactively back to Jan. 1 – though the raises would go into effect July 1 – and be in place through June 30, 2027.
The POA membership includes both sworn officers, such as police officers and sergeants, and non-sworn staff.
In the first phase of the contract, a police officer could make between $8,153 and $9,911 a month. By the last phase, an officer could be making from $9,171 to $11,148 a month. In 2024, a police sergeant could make between $10,059 and $12,227 monthly, and in 2026, that rate would increase to between $11,314 and $13,754 a month.
Negotiators also reached agreements about bilingual pay for non-sworn staff, increasing the stipends to up to $300 a month.
Other contract changes include allowing for new hires with “exceptional experience and/or education/training” to be assigned any pay rate within the salary range and four holiday hours that won’t have to be paid by the city in exchange for allowing union president John Kachirisky to work full-time for the union without working in the field, as well as to avoid raising union dues.
The contract would also add longevity pay of 5% for sworn employees with 10 or more years of service in July 2025. Pay would also increase pay by 2.5% for non-sworn employees with 15 or more years of service in July 2025, increasing to 5% in July 2026. Non-sworn employees would see an increase in longevity pay to 5% for 20 or more years of service in July 2026.
The last contract negotiated with the SAPOA in 2023 raised pay by 3% over one year and was expected to cost the city about $6.4 million.
Union membership has voted to accept the proposed contract; the council meets at 5 p.m. on Tuesday and is expected to consider the deal.
