The Toronto Police Services Board ratified the police force’s four-year contract in a closed meeting Thursday morning.

The deal, which will give police an 11.5 per cent pay increase, will add $23.2 million to the budget in 2012, the board said in a statement.

About 90 per cent of the police budget is dedicated to salaries.

The board said it was “very pleased” with the deal which ensures labour peace and maintains a good working relationship with police.

The board said the mediated settlement was especially appealing given acrimonious relations in the two previous rounds of bargaining, in 2005 and 2008.

The deal “continues to recognize the work and value of our officers in maintaining them as amongst the highest paid officers in Ontario.”

The Ontario Provincial Police recently signed a deal that will make them the province’s highest paid officers by 2014.

Currently, a first-class OPP constable earns $83,483. In Toronto, an officer of the same rank will make about $83,840 under the new deal.

Police board chair Alok Mukherjee said the board was able to extract several long-term concessions, including clauses over sick pay benefits for new hires.

The police pay package has been a hot-button issue because many have viewed the raise as too rich in this economic environment.

When contract negotiations broke down in 2008, the matter went to a provincial arbitrator who controversially awarded police a 10 per cent increase by 2010.

The arbitrator acknowledged that while the city faced financial challenges, the amount was in keeping with contracts given to other Ontario police forces.

In early May, Mukherjee sent an open letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty defending the Toronto deal and blaming the province for the escalating cost of police contracts.