Oct. 24--EVANSVILLE, IN-- The end of a nearly yearlong dispute between Mayor Lloyd Winnecke's office and the police and fire departments was reached Monday with a six-figure settlement.
City Council approved using $300,000 of income tax revenue to end the lawsuit between the unions and city over the changes to the 2017 health insurance plan the city offered employees.
The settlement is the result of several rounds of court-ordered mediation after the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 73 and Firefighters Local 357 filed a lawsuit against the city last December to stop insurance plan changes.
Vanderburgh County Superior Court Judge Les Shively denied the injunction but ruled the city and unions would reopen contract negotiations.
City Controller Russ Lloyd Jr. said the $300,000 will be split between the police and firefighters who were on the city's insurance plan in 2016. Each will receive about $245. Lloyd said.
The most common award is $558.14, according to City Personnel Director George Fithian.
There are 274 firefighters and 287 police officers in the city, but not all are on the city's insurance plan.
The unions also leveraged an extra raise for 2018, doubled to 2 percent from the original 1 percent in the negotiated union contract with the city.
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