Lansford Borough Police have a new five-year contract which includes annual pay raises.

Officers were working under an expired contract since Jan. 1.

Borough council voted to approve the new contract at a special meeting Monday night. The new contract officially runs from Jan. 1, 2018, to Dec. 31, 2022.

The contract affects the borough’s four full-time patrol officers as well as a sergeant and a detective.

Officers will receive a 5 percent raise in 2018; 3 percent per year in 2019-21; and 2 percent in 2022.

Officers will also pay half as much for health coverage as they did in the previous contract. A single officer pays $25 per month. An officer with a family pays $50.

Council President Jared Soto said he was pleased with the contract and happy council could wrap up a process that began in January. He also pointed out that it will help council avoid having to go to arbitration.

“I give credit to Detective (Josh) Tom and Sgt. (Shawn) Nunemacher for having several meetings and making sure we had everything the way it needed to be, and even their patience for going three months into a year without having a contract in place, and still being willing to work through it,” Soto said.

The vote to pass the contract was 4-2. Bob Silver and Joseph Butrie voted against, and Marie Ondrus abstained as her son works part-time for the department.

Council approved the contract by the same vote earlier this month, but voted again Monday after Soto said he stated the wrong insurance payment for the officers.

Silver said after the first vote that he was in favor of increasing the officers’ copay for their insurance.

Police have already said they will approve the contract that council passed Monday night.

In other business, council revised a grant application it approved earlier this month for renovations at the Lansford Pool. The borough increased its request to Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to $400,000 from $20,000 after learning that it only needs to put up a 15 percent match instead of a 100 percent match.