{"id":179457,"date":"2026-04-29T18:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T18:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/179457\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T18:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T18:30:08","slug":"reading-approves-police-contract-through-2028","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/179457\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading approves police contract through 2028"},"content":{"rendered":"

City Council has approved a new three-year collective bargaining agreement with Reading\u2019s police officers.<\/p>\n

The resolution, passed unanimously, authorizes the mayor to execute a contract running from Jan. 1, 2026, through Dec. 31, 2028, between the city and the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 9.<\/p>\n

Discussion of the contract, which outlines pay, benefits and working conditions for sworn officers, took place in an executive session earlier Monday.<\/p>\n

Reading \u2013 FOP Contract<\/a><\/p>\n

The contract includes a series of across-the-board pay increases with salaries rising 4% in 2026 and 5% in each of the following two years. Under that schedule, a police trainee would earn $75,462 by 2028, while a police officer I would reach $84,086. More experienced patrol officers climb into six-figure territory, with a top-tier police officer V earning $107,803 by the final year of the contract.<\/p>\n

Other key provisions are as follows:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Health insurance contributions are capped but will increase annually, with the city\u2019s maximum monthly contribution rising from $985 for single coverage in 2026 to $1,086 by 2028, and from $2,922 to $3,221 for family coverage over the same period.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Officers hired after 2011 will not receive post-retirement health benefits, as part of the city\u2019s efforts to control costs.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The agreement will maintain multiple health plan options, including Premier, Preferred and Preferred Plus plans.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The contract will preserve pension provisions, including a service increment cap of $500 per month and buy-back options for prior service under certain conditions.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Officers will remain subject to disciplinary procedures that include predisciplinary hearings and appeal rights, with final appeals allowed through arbitration or the courts.<\/p>\n

The agreement also reaffirms that the FOP serves as the exclusive bargaining representative for the city\u2019s police officers, covering compensation, hours, working conditions and retirement benefits under Pennsylvania\u2019s Act 111.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, officials emphasized the importance of the contract in retaining officers.<\/p>\n

Councilman Ray Baker praised the agreement, saying the city must remain competitive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to make sure our police officers get paid,\u201d he said. \u201cWe get tired of seeing so many of them make their way to the suburbs.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other business, council approved a pair of ordinances for final passage, including a $382,004 sewer fund amendment tied to delayed equipment delivery and the acquisition of the public works property on North Sixth Street.<\/p>\n

Contracts for tree maintenance, equipment purchases and utility system upgrades were approved by council as part of its consent agenda. Among the largest expenditures was a $484,028 construction contract to renovate a city-owned warehouse at 301 Spruce St.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City Council has approved a new three-year collective bargaining agreement with Reading\u2019s police officers. The resolution, passed unanimously,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,857,182,139,28,736,128,130,129,706],"class_list":["post-179457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-essential-reading","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}