Blume interpreted the provision to mean that officers and other employees must receive 25 percent pay increases.

The figures triggered accusations that the city had inflated the numbers to stoke fear and provide certain council members a pretext to vote down the agreement, called a consent decree.

Gupta’s letter rebutted the conclusions drawn by Blume, arguing that the department had always made it clear that salary increases could come over time and that the agreement itself does not specify any particular percentage.

“Tonight, the city of Ferguson, Missouri, took an important step towards guaranteeing all of its citizens the protections of our Constitution,” Gupta said in a statement on Tuesday. “We are pleased that they have approved the consent decree, a document designed to provide the framework needed to institute constitutional policing in Ferguson, and look forward to filing it in court in the coming days and beginning to work with them towards implementation.”

TAX HIKES URGED

This week the city released revised estimates of the costs of the reforms, projecting them to be between $1 million and $1.5 million in the first year, $782,500 and $882,300 in the second year and $682,092 and $754,350 every year there after.