Contract between FOP and City of Lexington passes first reading

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) -A contract that would raise yearly pay for new Lexington police officers, and potentially help with recruitment and retention, passed its first reading before the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government.

Council voted unanimously in support of the contract during Thursday’s evening.

The contract is retroactive back to the first full pay period after July 1, 2021. So, an officer new yearly pay will be adjusted from $41,000 to $47,000 and every class coming forward will start at $47,000.

During a work session Tuesday, council was told after a state supplement is added, the pay will really start at over $50,000.

Right now, the Lexington Police Department is down about 90 officers.

“Ultimately, the FOP bargaining team had one goal in mind, recruitment and retention,” said Fraternal Order of Police Bluegrass Lodge 4 President Jeremy Russell. “Financially, this contract is currently appealing to both. Both sides wanted more or less in both financials and non-financials but that is why they call it collective bargaining. In the end, we reached an agreement that is good for the officers and good for the administration. More importantly, both sides will agree that this contract is good for the citizens of Lexington.”

“Given the present budget situation and a lot of other considerations, it’s a good agreement,” said Vice Mayor Steve Kay. “So I will be supportive and I expect it to pass council easily.”

Councilmember Fred Brown motioned to go ahead and move the resolution to a second reading during Thursday’s meeting, but the motion failed.

Kay says he and other council members wanted to make sure there was an opportunity for public comment.

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