New Britain Borough police officers have signed their first union contract with the borough.
The contract, signed Tuesday by borough officials and the Police Benevolent Association, is retroactive to Jan. 1 and runs through December 1993. It covers Police Chief David R. Sempkowski, one full-time police officer and six part-time officers.
Borough officials said the contract provided group term life insurance of $50,000 for the two full-time officers and $25,000 for the part-time officers.
Group health insurance is a new benefit for the full-time officers under the contract. The officers will pay the premiums for other members of their family.
Under the contract, officers with less than one year of continuous service will be paid $10 per hour in both years of the contract. Rates for full-time officers range from $11.50 to $12 per hour this year. In 1993, the officers will get a 50-cent per hour raise. Previously, all of the officers were paid $9.50 an hour.
The chief of police will be paid $16.35 per hour in 1992 and $17 per hour in 1993. Before the contract, his salary was about $32,000 a year, said Borough Manager John K. Wolff. Sempkowski will now make about $34,000.
In an interview Thursday, Wolff said the borough had no contract with its police officers in the past because of its size. Until last June, New Britain's only full-time officer was the chief.
"This contract is unusual because it includes part-time officers," said Wolff.
