Harrison Reaches Agreement With PBA

The Town of Harrison has come to terms with the local police union on the outline of a new contract that will run until 2017, according to several sources familiar with the negotiations.

The new contract includes the creation of a tier-based healthcare system, raises and increased medical co-pays, two of those sources said.

Exact numbers were not immediately available.

The town board has been negotiating the healthcare provisions within local union contracts since coming to  in 2010. To close a $1 million gap in that year's budget, unions agreed to push-back pay increases from 2010 to be paid off between 2012 and 2015. At the time, board members said they expected to reach agreements changing union healthcare provisions that would help balance the deferred payments when they went out starting this year.

More than two years later, the agreement makes the PBA the first major union to come to terms with the town. There are no new agreements in place between the town and other local unions including the CSEA and Teamsters. The sources who spoke with Patch confirmed town leadership hopes to come to terms with the other local unions next.

The PBA agreement was finalized late last week, according to sources. The Harrison Town Board had a special meeting on July 25 that was continued Friday at 8 a.m., according to public meeting records. Five new Harrison Police officers were afternoon. Those officers began police academy training this week.

Check back for updates.