Englewood approves police contract with 5% raise for Police Officer I in 2027

The Englewood City Council unanimously approved a two-year contract Sept. 21 with the Englewood Police Benefits Association that gives Police Officer I employees a 5% raise in 2027, followed by a 4% raise for all officer classifications in 2028.

The agreement takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, and runs through Dec. 31, 2028, according to the city’s contract and staff materials. Other officer classifications will remain at their 2026 pay rates in 2027.

The city projects $570,000 in additional salary costs over two years: $265,000 for the 2027 Police Officer I increase and $305,000 for the 2028 increase. Changes to paid-time-off rules are expected to save about $25,000 annually, for a projected net cost of approximately $520,000.

The contract increases the maximum paid time off officers can carry over by 60 hours at each service level. It also reduces annual paid-time-off cash-out eligibility from as many as 180 hours to 40 hours and eliminates the option to put those cash-out funds into a health savings account, city staff said.

Staff said negotiations addressed inflation, rising health-care costs and recruiting and retention challenges. City materials said Police Officer I pay was around the 20th percentile among market comparators before the agreement and that the increases were intended to move the classification to roughly the 40th to 45th percentile.

For regional context, Denver’s 2026-28 police contract provides Police Officer I raises of 2% in January 2027, 4% in July 2027 and two additional 2% increases in 2028, according to the Denver Police Protective Association agreement. Boulder’s 2026 police agreement provided a 4.75% increase beginning with the first pay period of that year, according to the city’s published collective bargaining agreement.

If the council had rejected the agreement, the city and police association would have gone to binding arbitration under the city’s process, staff said.