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Salary and other payment due a police chief to be based on the compensation paid his or her highest paid subordinate

Salary and other payment due a police chief to be based on the compensation paid his or her highest paid subordinate
Opinion of the State Comptroller, 2008-6, December 26, 2008

Sometimes salary increases for police officers negotiated under the Taylor Law results in a chief of police actually being paid less than one or more of his or her subordinates. This is usually referred to as salary compression.

In an effort to avoid salary compression resulting from collective bargaining, the General Municipal Law was amended [Chapter 827, Laws of 1977] to provide that "whenever the base salary of the permanent full-time police officer ... who is the highest ranking subordinate to the head of the police department in such unit, is increased, the salary of the permanent full-time head of the police department shall be increased by at least the same dollar amount."

In Opinion 2008-6 the State Comptroller responded to an inquiry concerning another issue involving General Municipal Law §207-m: its application with respect to the calculation of the cash value of the accumulated, unused vacation leave payable to the village police commissioner upon retirement.

The Comptroller concluded that in the event ?the calculation of the cash payment upon retirement of the accumulated, unused vacation leave for the next subordinate officer in a village police department results in an increased amount because the daily [salary] rate divisor and, therefore, hourly [salary] rate divisor used to make that calculation are changed, the police commissioner is entitled to a corresponding benefit.?

The Comptroller advised that the daily rate divisor and, consequently, hourly rate divisor used to calculate the cash value upon retirement of accumulated, unused vacation leave for the police commissioner must be increased by the same percentage as the increase received by the next subordinate officer.

The Opinion is posted on the Internet at:
http://www.osc.state.ny.us/legal/2008/op2008.6.htm

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on January 26, 2009 (boomark / email).