Size of Raises in New Police Contract Revealed

Milwaukee Police Department. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) officers will receive a 15 percent raise over four years and substantial back pay as part of a new labor agreement.

The Milwaukee Police Association announced high-level terms of the new labor agreement in a news release. After entering into a high-stakes arbitration process in September, the city and the union for rank-and-file MPD members reached a voluntary agreement last week. MPA announced Thursday morning that its members have “overwhelmingly voted to ratify” the new agreement.

The Common Council still needs to approve the agreement.

The agreement, effective through the end of 2026, includes mostly retroactive wage increases in six-month increments ranging from 1.75 to 3.25 percent. MPA said that with compounding, the total raise amounts to 15.01 percent by early 2026. No additional raises are scheduled beyond a 3.25 percent increase at the start of that year.

The agreement is backdated to the start of 2023, when the last labor agreement expired.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson and MPA President Alexander Ayala both said a raise was warranted, but the death of the city’s labor negotiator, the sales tax negotiation process and other personnel changes delayed talks for years.

“The MPA fought hard for fair wages and long-term stability, but our work is never done. Officers deserve to be paid more for the dangerous, high-stakes work they perform every single day,” said Ayala in a statement. “We can’t ignore that the ‘defund the police’ attitude is still alive and well inside the Mayor’s office at City Hall and this agreement protects our officers into [the] future. This agreement was not a gift from City leadership—it was earned through the perseverance and professionalism of Milwaukee’s officers.”

Under the prior agreement, officers had a starting salary of $63,564 with annual raises for the first five years. The maximum salary, excluding overtime or promotions, was $84,743. Using the compounded figure released by MPA, the new range would be $73,105 to $97,463.

MPA’s release says the proposed agreement includes full retroactive pay. While the city has yet to release a fiscal estimate, the back pay provision is expected to cost several million dollars in payments to current and former officers. Work rules, including vacation and health care calculations, were not been released.

A new Milwaukee Professional Firefighters Association contract, approved earlier this year, included back pay totaling $5.25 million. It also adds $8.5 million in costs next year to what was previously an approximately $150 million Milwaukee Fire Department budget. A new Milwaukee Police Supervisors’ Organization contract, adopted in July 2024, did not include retroactive pay.

The city’s final offer from February, according to MPA, was a three-year agreement with a 9.26 percent compounded raise and no back pay for the initial 5 percent increase awarded at the start of the agreement. MPA said its final offer was a three-year agreement with a 12.75 percent raise, but when compounding its figures, it resulted in 15.75 percent over three years.

The final agreement “reflects some compromise,” said the mayor’s office last week. And based on the figures released by MPA, the sides reached a longer agreement than initially expected, at a lower rate than the MPA sought, but with full backpay.

“Our officers have shown remarkable dedication by continuing to serve this city for more than three years without a raise and contract,” Ayala said. “They never stopped showing up, never stopped protecting this community, and never stopped doing the hard work that keeps Milwaukee safe. This agreement is the result of their perseverance—not the Mayor’s last-minute effort.”

The proposed 2026 budget, pending council adoption next week, includes three full police recruiting classes and totals $310 million. The department’s actual expenditures were $283 million in 2023 and $270 million in 2024. The 2025 budget for MPD is $314 million.

“I am happy that we are where we are right now. We always wanted to get a deal done,” said the mayor in a brief press event Thursday morning. He declined to discuss the specifics of the deal.