LA City Council approves police contract

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday approved a new labor contract with the union that represents rank and file police officers.

L.A. cops will receive no raise in the first year of the three-year contract, then a series of one or two percent pay increases.

“It benefits the city with $316 million in savings," said City Council President Eric Garcetti. "We make sure that we cap our health care costs which is one of the big drivers of why we’ve had deficits.”

Under the deal, the city will freeze its contribution to an officer’s retiree health care plan unless he or she contributes 2 percent from their paycheck to it.

The contract also continues restrictions on overtime pay for cops.

Garcetti said bond markets like the city’s recent efforts to trim labor contracts.

“We went out to bond our money for the coming year and got the lowest percentage rate that we’ve ever gotten," he said.

But bond rating agencies remain cautious. Moody’s still has L.A. rated Aa3, a downgrade from Aa2 that Moody's slapped on the city during the worst of L.A's fiscal crisis last year.

Here's the breakdown of the police officers raises over the next three years: No raise the first year, a 1 percent increase on July 1, 2012, a 2 percent increase on Jan. 1, 2013, followed by 1 percent increases on July 1 and Nov. 1, 2013. On March 1, 2014, officers receive a final 2 percent increase.