MINNEAPOLIS (KFGO WCCO) – The Minneapolis City Council voted to approve the contract for the Minneapolis Police Officers union in a 8-4 vote Thursday morning.
The contract will increase wages for Minneapolis officers by nearly 22%. The deal has already been ratified by the union’s rank and file. The deal would add $9.2 million to the city’s budget starting next year.
“This vote was extraordinarily important,” said Mayor Jacob Frey. “It marks a turning point for the city of Minneapolis. It shows that we’ve turned a corner to recognize that the concepts of safety and change are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they’re intrinsically linked.”
Frey says this contract will put control of the department back in the hands of the police chief and city leadership. Starting pay for officers will be more than $92,000, making them among the highest paid in the state.
Minneapolis City Council President Elliot Payne, who voted in favor of the contract, says he almost voted no because the current contract lacked a broader plan on tackling public safety.
“We had a history of a toxic, racist police department because we had a broad community that was willing to look the other way,” Payne said following Thursday’s vote. “We need a majority of voters in this city to start paying attention. We need a majority of voters in the city to start having a more sophisticated conversation and not just to boil it down to pro or anti-police.”
Some critics of the new contract said it doesn’t include enough reform measures.
Comments