Costa Mesa : Council OKs Accord Giving Raise to Police

The City Council has unanimously approved a memo of understanding between the city and the Costa Mesa Police Assn. agreeing to an immediate 8.75% pay hike, followed by an additional 3.75% increase in January.

The 144 police officers had been working without a contract since July 1.

Before the pay hike, pay for Costa Mesa police officers ranked near the bottom of pay scales in countywide surveys. With a base salary of $2,631 a month, Costa Mesa ranked 17th among the county’s 24 law enforcement agencies.

The immediate raise brings the base salary to $2,861 per month. In January, the salary will rise to $2,968.

The agreement came after months of negotiations, which ended in protest when 100 police officers and their families packed council chambers during a July 21 meeting.

Sgt. Dennis Cost, president of the Costa Mesa Police Assn., the police officers’ bargaining unit, said the pay and benefits package offered by the city was hindering efforts to recruit and retain top-notch personnel.

“I’m happy and the cops are happy and the people should be happy,” said Councilman Dave Wheeler, who supported the association’s bid for more competitive salaries and benefits. “We’re going to keep the good guys, and the people will have the same-quality police force,” he said.

Mayor Norma Hertzog, who had initially resisted bargaining with the police association, at the public meeting voted in favor of the package but said she thought “the numbers were too high.”

“I would rather have had the group go back to the table and negotiate. The pressure under which the council voted did not allow that opportunity,” she said.