YOUNGSTOWN — The city’s police patrol union rejected a fact-finder’s report that would have given its members 4% annual raises for three years, retroactive to Jan. 1.

The fact-finder report from Howard D. Silver denied the union’s request to increase their current top-tier salary to $35 an hour, $72,800 annually, by the start of 2027, which was likely the main reason why the union rejected his recommendations in an Oct. 15 vote.

Patrol officers at the top of the pay scale currently get $30.04 an hour in base pay, which is $62,479 annually.

Silver’s report would have increased pay to $31.24 an hour, retroactive to Jan. 1, and then to $32.49 an hour, starting Jan. 1, 2026, and then to $33.79 an hour, starting Jan. 1, 2027.

If Silver had agreed to increase pay for those at the top of the pay scale — which is close to half of the union’s 86 members — the pay increase in the final year would have been 7.4%.

The union also wanted entry-level pay to increase from $21 an hour to $25 an hour, Silver wrote in his report.

Silver proposed including the pay differential increases given to officers on each shift into their base-pay wages, which the city supported.

Those working dayturn get an additional 40 cents per hour, those working afternoons get 50 cents more an hour and those working overnight get 60 cents more an hour. Those increases are not included in the base salaries of officers and were created during the last union contract agreement.

The union argued that Mahoning County sheriff’s deputies at the top of the pay scale make $35 an hour.

The city offered raises of 2.5% in 2025, 4% in 2026 and 2.5% in 2027. The firefighters union agreed to a contract earlier this year that had pay increases of 2.5% in 2025 and 4% in 2026.

Silver wrote: “The fact-finder is persuaded that the bargaining unit was paid substantially less than statewide averages in recent years and the bargaining unit has shouldered its fair share of the burdens of a declining population, diminishing sources of revenue and the economic downturn caused by the pandemic.”

But he added that 4% annual increases with the pay differential included is “financially feasible, equitable and proportionate to similarly situated employees in the region, in Ohio cities, in the type of work performed, and in the state of Ohio generally.”

City council in December agreed to give 10% bonuses to every Youngstown police officer and emergency 911 dispatcher, from $882,762 not used to hire new police officers from a $1.2 million American Rescue Plan grant the city received in 2022. Those increases, which were $6,247 for those at the top of the pay scale, also aren’t included in their base pay.

The city’s ranking police officers’ union has a “me-too” clause in its contract, meaning it automatically gets the same raises as the patrol union. Its members also received the 10% bonuses in December.

The city agreed in November 2021 to a three-year contract with the police patrol union that increased the starting salaries of officers by 27.4% in 2022, reduced by three years the amount of time for officers to get to the top of the pay scale from 12 years to nine years of experience, gave those at the top of the pay scale a $1,000 lump-sum payment, and provided the biggest pay increases in more than 15 years to the most senior members.

Silver also sided with the city on keeping longevity pay at $65 for each year an officer has worked for the city. An officer with 10 years of experience gets a $650 longevity bonus each year.

The union wanted to increase that to $85.

Also, Silver sided with the city on hazardous duty pay. Each officer currently receives $850 in hazardous duty pay. The union wanted to increase that lump-sum payment to $2,000 annually, while the city agreed to increase it to $1,000.

The two sides will continue to bargain on the contract that expired nearly a year ago. If that fails to resolve the dispute, the other option is binding arbitration with both sides presenting proposals and a state-appointed arbitrator deciding between the two.