State police contract saves $1 million
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Vermont Press Bureau - Published: March 5, 2010
MONTPELIER – The Vermont State Police won't be getting pay cuts under a new contract with the state government that is estimated to save almost $1 million.
The Vermont Trooper's Association has agreed to a new one-year labor contract that Gov. James Douglas' administration says will save $970,000 in the 2011 state budget. While there aren't direct pay cuts, the troopers will get the equivalent f a 3 percent pay reduction like many other state employees.
The deal will see troopers take freezes in pay, give up an additional 40 hours each of supplemental pay and also lose their holiday pay for working holidays such as Town Meeting Day, Bennington Battle Day and Washington's Birthday.
Neale Lunderville, the secretary of administration for Douglas, said in a press release Thursday that the union contract will save $162,000 in the general fund and $719,000 in the state transportation budget. But he warned that the budget gap for next year is still $150 million.
"The Vermont economy is not out of the woods yet," Lunderville said.
This is the first contract that the Trooper's Association has struck with the Douglas administration. The state troopers left the Vermont State Employees Association, the union representing state government workers, late in 2009.
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