San Diego

The San Diego City Council on Monday unanimously approved a new contract calling for a 17% salary increase over two years for most of the police force.

The agreement, which was ratified by the Police Officers Assn. membership Friday, comes after the group succeeded in placing a pay raise initiative on the June ballot that calls for the 17% increase all at once. City officials feared that the proposal, if passed, would lead to budgetary chaos and warned that other municipal services would have to be cut to accommodate $10 million in one-time raises.

These concerns compelled the city and police to negotiate the new contract. In exchange for the two-year pact, police have agreed to drop support of their ballot initiative and support a rival ballot measure that alters the City Charter by allowing for multiyear contracts with municipal employees. If the police pay measure passes, however, the contract approved by the council is nullified, according to the agreement.