Starting Salaries for Wisconsin State Troopers Under New Contract to Increase by Nearly $6,000 a Year
Thursday, February 13th, 2020 -- 10:37 AM
(AP) -Starting salaries for Wisconsin state troopers would increase by nearly $6,000 a year under their first new contract in five years that won approval Wednesday after a previous agreement with higher raises was rejected.A Republican-controlled committee of legislative leaders voted unanimously to accept the new contract. It now heads to the Legislature for final votes to ratify. The troopers’ last approved contract ended in 2015. The new deal, covering 370 state troopers, is retroactive to the two year-period that ended in July 2019. Troopers will receive a lump sum payment. Under the agreement, starting salaries will increase from $43,680 a year to $49,358. The pay scale will be adjusted for all troopers based on their years of service and they will also receive a 2% pay raise for each of the past two years. Troopers will now reach the top pay scale of $71,593 after seven years rather than 10. Total increases amount to a 9.9 bump for the entire bargaining unit.
Republican legislative leaders balked at the previous contract, which had starting salary increases of more than 20%. The total cost of the new deal is about $2.6 million, or roughly half as much as the rejected plan. Chad Thompson, a master trooper based in Wood County who is also president of the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Association, said he hoped the new deal would help the Wisconsin State Patrol with recruitment and retention. He was also optimistic that a new contract, covering the current year and beyond, could be negotiated soon.
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