Evanston police will receive pay raises of at least 26% over four years under a new union contract that officials said was needed to bring pay for the city’s force in line with other area police departments.
“This was an easy choice for the entire City Council to move forward with,” Councilmember Devon Reid said. “We understand (Evanston Police Department’s pay wasn’t) in alignment with our neighbors and our neighbors do not have the same complications we do.”
Police sergeants will receive a 26% gross wage increase, according to a memo from city officials, beginning with a 14% equity increase in the contract’s first year and a 4% increase in each of the following three years. Patrol officers will receive a 27% gross wage increase, according to the memo, with an 18% increase in the first year followed by 3% the following three years.
The agreement has a longevity salary increase to 6.5% for police sergeants with more than 25 years of service, and 4.5% for patrol officers with more than 15 years of service.
City Council members used a 2022 Baker Tilly report to compare city staff wages to other suburban Chicago municipalities, Reid said, which raised concerns. Police Chief Schenita Stewart told Pioneer Press the wage increases will put Evanston’s pay scale at the high end locally.
These increases come despite the 2023 budget designating $508,332 less for salary and benefits than in 2022. The department’s 2023 total budget is $66,504 less than last year.
With the bargaining agreement, the lowest 2023 salary tier listed for an EPD police sergeant is $121,482 with the highest tier at $146,581. Evanston declined to provide similar information for patrol officers.
Stewart said she is excited about a “current employees made whole” provision giving wage protections to existing Evanston officers. The new language will adjust current staff salaries if a new hire with the same experience is offered a higher wage. Stewart said in the past new officers have occasionally received higher wages than existing EPD officers, which she believes sends a false message devaluing longtime employees.
“We have had training officers get paid less than the people they were training (because Evanston lacked this provision),” Stewart said. “Now we’ll match the salary for individuals that have been loyal to the agency instead of (just increasing pay for) officers from other departments that come here and kind of forgetting about the people we have internally who have been dedicated to the department.”
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The department has allegedly faced employee morale challenges in recent years due to inconsistent leadership and the nationwide scrutiny increase toward police officers. Evanston residents say this contributed to the department’s limited staffed in recent years.
Evanston’s police department has had more staff members leave than it could hire in recent years with 2022 being the first year, since at least 2019, to have more new employees than departing. Stewart said she hopes the pay increases will help combat employee retention and morale concerns.
The new collective bargaining agreement was unanimously approved by the City Council on Jan. 23 and will be in effect until Dec. 31, 2026.
Corey Schmidt is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.