Greenville-West Salem Township Police Officers Association has filed a grievance with Greenville Mayor Clifford H. Harriger, telling council to recognize their agreement before they accept a wage freeze.

Faced with a financial crisis and a budget deficit, council has tabled ratification of a five-year labor agreement which was supposed to begin Jan. 1. The 11 policemen in the association have been working under terms of the old contract.

Council got agreement for wage freezes from the sewer plant workers and Greenville firefighters, but with conditions. However, police and street department workers have not agreed to wage freezes.

The policemen's grievance asks council to recognize that they have agreed to a labor contract, union officials said.

"We don't want to be the bad guys," he said. Sgt. Peter Calenda, association chief negotiator. Patrolman Will Webster is president of the police officers association.

"It's to protect the collective bargaining agreement," said Sgt. Thomas Strauhler, who is acting police chief. "We're not against sitting down and talking about a wage freeze, but we want them to know that there is a contract out there."

Calenda said council should sign the labor agreement they reached last fall before police discuss a wage freeze for this year. "We want them to recognize that we have a contract. Once we do that, then we can sit down and see what we can do," he said.

"The consensus among the guys is they most likely will accept a wage freeze. It's not a secret that there is financial problems there," Calenda said.

An audit of the 2000 books showed that $500,000 was transferred from a $3.67 million bond issue to meet shortfalls in the general fund. That needs to be paid back to the bond issue. Council reopened its 2002 budget because the $3 million-plus budget showed a deficit of $95,000 to $100,000. The change the in property tax assessment ratio limited the tax increase that council could impose to 5 percent.

The five-year labor agreement calls for raises of 3.5 percent for the first three years of the contract with a wage opener clause in the last two years.

A possible concession by police could be to move the wage opener clause to the first year of the contract, thus delaying the 3.5 percent raise, Calenda said.

The mayor has five days to respond to the grievance, which was filed Tuesday, before it goes to borough council, Calenda said. If council does not respond to the grievance, it could go to binding arbitration.