Paterson Boosts Troopers

Weeks after state police troopers padded Governor Paterson's campaign war chest with a $25,000 contribution, the governor is awarding the troopers a 14% pay raise over four years.

The contract agreement with the Police Benevolent Association of the New York State Troopers could present a problem for Mr. Paterson, as he has been sounding the alarm over the health of the state's budget and has summoned lawmakers back to Albany for a special session tomorrow to trim the budget by $600 million.

He has told New Yorkers to prepare for "painful" cuts to close a budget gap of some $6.4 billion, and warned that the state's economic downturn could turn into the next Great Depression.

By agreeing to pay raises for 3,600 state police troopers represented by the police union, he is seemingly sending mixed messages.

To some New Yorkers, it may indicate that the state's fiscal shape is not as bad as Mr. Paterson would have them believe. To others, it could be a sign that the governor is unwilling to make the tough decisions necessary to steer the state through choppy financial waters.

A spokesman for Mr. Paterson, Morgan Hook, said yesterday that he could not immediately say how much the contract settlement would cost the state. The director of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, E.J. McMahon, estimated that it would cost about $45 million over four years.

The contract agreement matches up with a series of pay raises given to other public employee unions within the last year.. Those contracts, however, were settled under Governor Spitzer, long before Mr. Paterson gave an unusual televised address to New Yorkers warning them of the financial trouble ahead.

"The problem is he's sticking with this pattern despite the fiscal problem," Mr. McMahon said yesterday. "On the one hand, he is saying we can't do business as usual. On the other hand, this is straight business as usual."

The starting salary for a state trooper trainee is $50,374 and the average salary for a state trooper is $74,700, according to state figures. The troopers will receive 3% raises for the first three years of the four-year contract and a 4% raise in the last year. The state troopers union has been without a state contract since March 2007. The pay raises will be applied retroactively. Cumulatively, the pay hikes add up to a 13.64% raise over four years.

More than 70,000 state employees represented by the Civil Service Employees Association received the same deal in 2007, as did more than 50,000 state employees in the Public Employees Federation in early February, weeks before Mr. Spitzer resigned from office after being linked to a prostitution ring.

As the economy sours across the country, other states are looking for ways to save money, through layoffs, budget cuts, and wage freezes. In California, Governor Schwarzenegger ordered a pay cut for most state employees last month, insisting that they earn the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour until a budget agreement was reached.

Mr. McMahon said Mr. Paterson does have the option of breaking the bargaining pattern set by other unions, but noted that it's possible an arbitrator might force the state to pay even higher salary increases. There would be a chance, however, that given the state's budget gaps and financial constraints, an arbitrator would have agreed to a less costly deal.

Mr. Hook said the contract includes "fairly standard cost of living raises" for the state troopers, and said the state needed to be "fair" to the police union, "especially considering what they do for the state."

He said there is no connection at all between the contract agreement announced yesterday and a $25,000 contribution to Mr. Paterson's gubernatorial campaign from the New York State Troopers PAC on July 8.

"This is not an irresponsible, robust contract that we are giving to a union. These are increases that are in line with a pattern of bargaining that were done with other unions," Mr. Hook said.

The president of the Police Benevolent Association, Daniel De Federicis, said in a statement yesterday that the contract is fair and that the union is pleased with it.

"We appreciate the fact that Governor Paterson balanced the fiscal needs of the State with the recognition of the difficult and dangerous jobs troopers perform for state residents each and every day," he said.