At the June 14 Board of Selectmen’s meeting, First Selectman Carl Fortuna, Jr., announced that the negotiations between the town and the Police Dispatchers Union had led to a contract settlement.

“The previous contract expired on June 30, 2015,” said Fortuna.

Fortuna said the retroactive pay for the contract’s first year (2015-’16) represented a 1.25 percent increase; also, for that contract year (which ends on June 30), the dispatchers got to keep their prior health insurance coverage. In the contract’s second year, the 2016-’17 year, the raises are 2.25 percent, an amount that includes the cost of step increases, and all dispatchers move to the town’s high deductible health insurance plan.

Fortuna said the new contract was settled with annual raises equal to about 2.3 percent inclusive of step increment increases. It also moves the dispatchers to a new $2,000/$4,000 high-deductible health insurance plan that will help the town control employee health insurance costs.

“Our health insurance premiums have gone up 12 percent over the past five years as employees moved to a high deductible health plan,” said Fortuna.

Shifting all town employees towards high deductible health insurance plans in recent contract negotiations has helped the town to control the rising cost of employee health insurance, Fortuna said.