Report: Montgomery County Police Could Get First Pay Raise In Four Years

Montgomery County police officers could notice a bump in their pay come July 1.

Officers would get a 2.1 percent pay raise, their first in four years, under an agreement with the county ratified by the county police union. The Fraternal Order of Police announced the new contract Monday, The Washington Examiner reported.

The announcement follows a pay raise tentatively secured recently by the county firefighters, the report said. All firefighters would receive 2.75 percent salary increases.

Raises were also announced in February for county government employees who are members of the Municipal and County Government Employees Organization, the report said. Those county employees would receive a 6.75 percent pay raise.

The County Council must ratify any new contracts as part of approving the county's fiscal 2014 operating budget. Leggett is scheduled to release his fiscal 2014 budget proposal Friday.

But with the county facing a $134 million budget hole in fiscal 2014, which begins July 1, some local lawmakers wonder where the money is coming from to support the raises.

"If [County Executive Isiah Leggett's] earlier indications about the budget are true, the money to pay for these pay increases will directly compete with funding for important services," Councilman Philip M. Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg said when the MCGEO raises were announced, The Examiner reported.

Read the full story on The Washington Examiner.