LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville Metro Police officers will get a pay raise after Metro Council members voted Thursday night to approve the new FOP contract.

The contract, which River City Fraternal Order of Police members voted to support in November, gives officers and sergeants a 9% raise for the current year, retroactive to July 1, and a 6% pay bump in 2022-23.

The 6% raise for next year is more than the 3% bump a previous proposal included, with officers and sergeants voting to reject that initial deal in September.

Metro Council approval was required to seal the deal, and the council voted 20-3 on Thursday to finalize the contract, which goes through June 2023.

Councilwoman Cassie Chamber Armstrong, D-8th District, Councilman Jecorey Arthur, D-4th, and Councilwoman Keisha Dorsey, D-3rd, were the no votes.

Background on police contract:Louisville police officers approve FOP contract with bigger raises

Armstrong said she appreciated officers who work to keep Bardstown Road safe in her district but had concerns about transparency and record retention provisions in the contract.

Councilwoman Donna Purvis, D-5th, voted present, with two members absent.

After the roll call for the vote occurred, one woman moved up to the microphone at the lectern that divides the public from the council members and shouted “cowards.”

Others in the crowd vocally expressed their displeasure at the vote before walking out of the chambers as the meeting continued on.

In the weeks leading up to the vote, some community members had expressed anger and frustration at public meetings about the police contract, arguing it still lacked some transparency and was giving an overall 15% raise to officers in a department that the FBI and Department of Justice are investigating for patterns of abuses and misconduct.

Ahead of Thursday evening’s meeting, some critics of the contract, including members of the 490 Project, who wanted it rejected and sent back for further negotiation, gathered at Jefferson Square Park before heading inside City Hall.

The 490 Project had shared a “Fill The Chambers” message on social media before the meeting as well.

“Metro Council is planning to give the police department that killed Breonna Taylor a 15% raise,” the message said. “Make your voice heard. Don’t let them get away with this. Show up. We need you there.”

The council chambers were nearly full, as over three dozen residents filled seats and held colorful signs containing messages like, “Send It Back,” “Vote No, and “Lies.”

West End activist and Black Market KY owner Shauntrice Martin said residents have been “begging” for years for public health agencies and initiatives that have “proven” success to receive more money.

Instead, LMPD has continued to get additional funding, Martin said, with one mother pointing out the department’s lower homicide clearance rate and recalling how officers “did not keep my kids safe” when a teen assaulted them at an outdoor basketball game.

“At any other job, the police would have been fired” for their mistakes, Martin said, as the audience snapped their fingers and shouted “yes” in support. 

“…We’ve got to hold police to the same standards…if not to a higher standard because they’ve got weapons.”

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Cara Tobe of the 490 Project said opponents to the new contract have consistently “showed up in numbers” to public hearings and vastly outnumbered those who speak in favor of the contract.

“We’ll remember your votes tonight,” Tobe told Metro Council members, including at the “ballot box.”

The new contract contains reform provisions the FOP and city negotiators first reached in September, including:

• Changes to disciplinary procedures such as not allowing officers to view body camera footage before being interviewed by investigators;
• Removing a 180-day time limit on concluding officer probes;
• Retaining disciplinary records connected to use of force, sexual misconduct, bias, truthfulness and criminal activity; and
• Drug and alcohol testing within 2 hours of a “critical incident.”

The 6% raise was a move to make LMPD salaries more competitive with smaller, neighboring suburban police departments, which have lured away Louisville officers.

An LMPD officer with two to three years of experience currently makes $57,803. Under the new contract, that would rise to $63,003 through June 2022 and to $66,788 in 2022-23.

An officer with 12 to 13 years of experience makes $63,065 but would make $68,744 this year and $72,862 next.

The FOP said last month the deal represents “a step in the right direction” that will help the “critical manpower shortage” LMPD is facing.

The mayor’s office has acknowledged the staffing woes facing not only LMPD but also other agencies in Louisville, such as Metro Corrections, with city leaders hoping to use over $12 million from a midyear budget surplus on raises for Metro workers.

Contract negotiations have not all been easy for Mayor Fischer’s administration, with members of the union representing jail workers rejecting a new Metro Corrections contract earlier in December that offered an 8% pay raise, among other provisions.

Other business – Buying AT&T building, pay raises for city workers

In other business Thursday evening, the council approved a consent agenda item approving the city to spend $20 million to purchase and renovate the AT&T building at 601 W. Chestnut St.

The building could house “various Metro agencies,” including LMPD, according to the city’s plan, which does not specify which other agencies would move into the downtown property, which takes up nearly 200,000 square feet on about five acres.

Louisville officials said in October the building could buying the building could cost $6.8 million — additional renovations evidently bumped the total cost up — and offer a chance to “relocate some of our agencies and departments, including LMPD, that are currently either in leased space or deteriorating facilities.”

Metro Council also was set to consider using a $20 million budget surplus as 2021 wraps up on several areas.

Roughly $12.5 million will go to potential pay increases for both unionized and non-union city employees, which the Fischer administration has said could help fix a “resignation tsunami” as Metro workers leave for better-paying jobs in the private sector.

An additional $5.7 million from the surplus will go to upgrading the city’s fleet, primarily outdated sanitation equipment and dump trucks. And $1.5 million are matching funds for a $50 million Build Back Better Regional Challenge federal grant the city is seeking with eight partners.

This story may be updated.

Kala Kachmar contributed reporting.

Reach Billy Kobin at [email protected].