It took the city just two months to reach a new contract with its police union, deviating from a process historically defined by late contracts and acrimonious negotiations.
In an agreement the Rye City Council signed off on last week, officers will receive a 15 percent wage increase over a 5-year span. Retroactive to Jan. 1, 2024, the new deal will run through Dec. 31, 2028.
Rye Police Benevolent Association members — the police department’s 38 sworn officers — were operating under an expired contract since the beginning of the year, a brief delay based on past precedent.
Rye PBA president Gabe Caputo called it a “pretty straight-forward contract” that was approved unanimously by the membership.
“The city wasn’t asking for anything unreasonable,” he said, “and the PBA wasn’t asking for anything crazy either.”
The contract, which was obtained by the Record, allows for salary increases of 2.75 percent in 2024, 3 percent in 2025 and 2026, 3.75 percent in 2027, plus a 3 percent bump in 2028. According to a city memorandum outlining the deal, the wage increases are consistent with police contracts of neighboring jurisdictions over the last few years.
“Due to the inflationary environment and other factors, the most recent contract settlements in Sound Shore communities have seen higher than 3 percent increases – some reaching over 4 percent year over year,” the memorandum states.
According to a city source, Rye officials and the PBA met at the bargaining table only twice — the first meeting taking place on Oct. 19, 2023 — before finalizing an agreement.
“The contract was basically done in November, but we had to clarify everything and iron out some details with the lawyers,” Caputo said.
That same source added the language was finalized in December.
Rye’s lead negotiator, City Manager Greg Usry, bucked historical trends by hammering out a police agreement more quickly than has been done since the early 2000s, according to a Record analysis. The last contract, covering 2016-2023, was delivered more than three years late. The agreement before that, from 2011 to 2015, took more than five years to finalize, requiring an interim 2009-10 contract awarded in arbitration following a lengthy stale-mate. And the 2004-08 deal wasn’t agreed on until 2008, bringing the parties almost immediately back to the bargaining table.
Caputo, who was elected PBA head in 2018, replacing outspoken ex-president Franco Compagnone, acknowledged tense labor relations between past union presidents and city officials, which included lawsuits and votes of no confidence.
“I don’t think my relationship with Greg (Usry) is anything like that,” Caputo said, crediting his relationship with the city manager and assistant city manager, Brian Shea, for the change in discourse. “Getting along with somebody goes a long way in life and in business.”
The new contract delivers an increase in detective salaries from 7-10 percent above the patrolmen pay scale – considered the industry standard, according to city officials. Officers assigned to the department’s Marine Unit will receive a stipend equivalent to 7 percent of base pay. Union members will get a boost in longevity pay and changes to the work schedule to balance out shifts. And Juneteenth (June 19) will also be added as an official holiday to the police calendar.
“I don’t think my relationship with Greg (Usry) is anything like that. Getting along with somebody goes a long way in life and in business.”
Gabe Caputo, rye pba president
Rye is now the first municipality among neighboring police unions to lock in a new deal. According to a review of police union contracts in the Sound Shore area, every contract has either expired or is nearing expiration with the exception of New Rochelle. Harrison’s and Rye Brook’s contracts both lapsed more than a year ago, based on information from the Empire Center.
The city’s 2024 police budget accounts for $7.85 million in salaries, or 48 percent of the department’s total costs, and is intended to cover the salary increases included in the new police con-tract. According to Deputy City Comptroller Joseph Fazzino, the city budget always accounts for the possibility of increases.
Rye police patrol 5.85 square miles in a city with a population of more than 16,000, based on 2020 census numbers.
The city’s other public safety union, the Rye Professional Firefighters Local 2029, saw its contract expire at the end of 2023. A city source said negotiations toward a new deal started at a Feb. 14 bargaining session.