Last week, we reported that the Oro Valley Town Council unanimously approved a new four-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Oro Valley Police Officers Association. The agreement takes effect July 1, 2025, and runs through June 30, 2029. It includes updated compensation terms and provisions for wages, benefits, and working conditions for sworn officers in the department. This is what we have learned (and not learned) from the draft MOU.
Agreement includes across-the-board and step increases
Under the new MOU, officers will continue to receive annual step increases. For the ranks of Police Officer and Detective, the step increase has been raised from 3.5% to 3.75%. Sergeants will receive a 2.25% step increase, with Year One minimum and maximum salaries set at $95,056 and $111,076.64, respectively. Both are about a 7.5% increase over current levels. In addition, all MOU-covered employees will receive a 2% across-the-board raise in Years Two, Three, and Four.
Additional pay adjustments
The agreement also increases shift differential pay to $1.75 per hour and raises on-call pay to $1.85 per hour. Changes were made to DROP (planned retiree) contributions, limiting 457 Retirement Plan contributions to Tier 1 employees hired before July 1, 2025. Other elements, such as leave, uniforms, and off-duty employment policies, remain largely unchanged.
Not one of the original options
LOVE previously reported that the Town Council had been reviewing three different pay plan options during negotiations. The new agreement does not exactly match any of those three. It appears to be a modified version of what was internally labeled the April 14 withdrawn plan ("WD"), with several adjustments to base pay and terms. Because the town did not release financial modeling to the public, we cannot say exactly what this will cost the town annually, but we did estimate that the "WD" plan would add $630,000 in cost for fiscal 2025.
A shift in strategy
The agreement includes language discouraging mid-term negotiation re-openers unless there is a demonstrated compensation gap with Marana or mutual agreement due to unforeseen conditions. This indicates a longer-term labor strategy focused on stability and mutual trust. The Council’s unanimous vote signals strong support for the new plan, but without detailed cost projections, it’s unclear how this will affect the Town’s long-term budget.
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