Members of the Vancouver Police Officers Guild will see a 6 percent pay increase in 2023 along with other benefits following the guild’s contract approval with the city of Vancouver.
Vancouver City Council on Monday approved the guild’s bargaining agreement, which comes with the initial pay bump to all job classifications followed by a 4 percent increase in both 2024 and 2025. It resulted from prior negotiations between the city and the guild. The contract is effective until Dec. 31, 2025, replacing the group’s recently expired agreement.
The Vancouver Police Officers Guild did not provide a comment by the time of publication.
To illustrate, a police officer’s annual pay will range from $80,148 to $107,412 in 2023, $83,352 to $111,708 in 2024 and $86,688 to $116,172 in 2025. Corporals’ salary can range up to $116,556 in 2023, $121,224 in 2024 and $126,072 in 2025. For sergeants, annual pay can reach $131,736 in 2023, $137,016 in 2024 and $142,488 in 2025.
Vancouver’s 2023-2024 biennial budget includes funding to fulfill the collective bargaining increases, according to a staff report. Police spokesperson Kim Kapp said these final budget adjustments won’t be known until the end of January.
The agreement includes payments to attract and preserve law enforcement staff, including retention incentives ranging from 2 percent of base pay for those who have worked at the department seven to nine years, 4 percent for 10 to 14 years, 6 percent for 15 to 19 years and 8 percent for 20 years or longer.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2024, employees’ deferred compensation contributions can be matched to 2.5 percent, making these payments applicable to current markets.
Administrative changes were made to paid holidays, contract language was modernized and state wage and hour laws for law enforcement were updated to comply with state laws, according to a staff report.
The contract now recognizes June 19, a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery, as a paid holiday.
