Aurora police and the city are preparing this month for contract negotiations, with pay and benefits the key issue as they debate a new contract for 2017 and beyond.

Formal negotiations are to begin in late April or early May, said Sgt. Bob Wesner, president of the Aurora Police Association, the city’s largest police union. Wesner met with a negotiator for the union this week.

Aurora is in the middle of the pack compared with other police departments in Colorado regarding how much it pays its officers, yet it is the second-largest department in the state, Wesner said.

A mandate that requires the city to hire a certain amount of cops based on population growth is also a chief concern with the union, but that is not an issue that is bargained collectively.

While not part of negotiations, Wesner said the lower pay given to Aurora officers has affected recent recruiting classes. Two years ago, when the last contract was adopted, Aurora officers were about in the middle of the pay scale compared with other large departments in the state. This year, “we’re below that,” Wesner said.

Entry-level officers in Aurora earn about $52,000 a year, slightly higher than in Denver, he said. However, it takes officers in Aurora 11 years to reach top pay of $79,000, Wesner said. In Denver, beginning officers can reach top pay of $82,000 in just five years, he said.

“We’re the third-largest city (in the state), and we don’t compare to Commerce City,” Wesner said of pay levels.

Michelle Wolfe, Aurora deputy city manager, said that two years ago, “we shared a concern we weren’t as competitive as we should be,” so the city worked with the union to restructure the pay scale.

She hopes getting to top pay in Aurora quicker will be improved in the latest rounds of negotiations.

“I know it does take longer to get to top-step pay than in Denver, and that’s one of the factors we are looking at,” she said.

She said the city still is analyzing data of other departments’ pay and benefit packages and could not say how Aurora currently stacks up. However, Wolfe noted, Aurora’s benefits “have traditionally been richer” than other departments.

Voters in Aurora approved a hiring ratio of two police officers for every thousand residents, a benchmark that began in 1994.

In 2011, the union and the city agreed to lower that to 1.6 per thousand residents — then gradually raise that over time — and a judge signed off on it, issuing consent decree on the agreement.

The hiring mandate requires that Aurora employ 672 police officers this year, 20 more than the city earmarked. That mark likely won’t be hit even with the scheduled police academies this year, but both sides hope it will in 2017. The additional officers will cost roughly $2 million, which has already been allocated in the 2016 budget.

“We acknowledge that,” Aurora City Manager Skip Noe said of not being able to hit the hiring ratio this year. “We’ve been working on a multiyear plan.”

City Councilwoman Barb Cleland, chairwoman of the public safety committee, said it is important that the city hire the extra officers. Because, if not, “it says the city has reneged on a judge’s ruling.”

Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175, cillescas@denverpost.com or @cillescasdp