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- Salt Lake City Council approved a 7% raise for police officers.
- The agreement, effective May 4, ensures competitive pay before HB267 goes into law.
- The raises go into effect at the start of the next fiscal year in July.
SALT LAKE CITY — Police officers in Utah's capital city are slated to receive a raise through an agreement facilitated before a new state law bans public unions from collectively bargaining.
The Salt Lake City Council voted this week to adopt a memorandum of understanding with the Salt Lake City Police Association over a three-year agreement that goes into effect on May 4, before HB267 goes into law in July. The deal includes a 7% raise for police officers beginning at the start of the 2026 fiscal year.
"This is a recognition of the complex and important work our officers do every day," Salt Lake police wrote in a statement on social media on Thursday. "We want to thank Mayor Erin Mendenhall and the Salt Lake City Council for their continued support of public safety and for standing with the women and men of the (police department)."
More than 60% of Salt Lake City's employees are represented by some form of union. Of those, Salt Lake City's agreement with the police association was due to be renewed for the upcoming fiscal year in July, which is what made HB267 a bill that the city planned to follow closely, Salt Lake City Council Chairman Chris Wharton said earlier this year.
The two sides reached a joint resolution in October 2024 before final negotiations. Under the final agreement, base pay rate for officers will range from $35.52 per hour for entry-level officers up to $50.39 officers with 12 or more years on the force. Additional raises are planned through the 2027 fiscal year, with rates jumping from $37.42 to $53.09 per hour.
Mendenhall referenced HB267 in her state of the city address in January, saying it would not discourage the city's "commitment to treating our workers fairly" and offering "competitive compensation" and "equitable benefits."
"I have always been proud to stand with and for Salt Lake's working families, and that has not changed — it will never change," she said. "Collective bargaining or not, we are a team and we cannot do the work this city needs without our incredible employees."
The mayor also referenced public safety frequently in her speech, delivering it not long after unveiling her new public safety plan.
Meanwhile, HB267 cleared the Utah Legislature days after Utah's capital became the first city in the state to create a collective bargaining structure process for library employees. It isn't expected to affect this year's library budget much, and city library leaders plan to negotiate with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees until the new law deadline, Noah Baskett, the city's library director, told City Council members on Tuesday.
Of course, the bill's future is also in question.
Groups opposed to the new law say they've gathered over 320,000 signatures to put it up for a referendum on next year's ballot. As of Friday, at least 33,000 of the signatures have been verified toward the qualifying requirement of about 141,000 signatures, which also includes a certain number of signatures in 15 of the state's 29 Senate districts.
Correction: This article previously stated HB267 goes into law on May 7. It goes into law on July 1.
