CRANBERRY TWP — The township and its police association have ratified a new three-year contract.

Manager Jerry Andree applauded both sides for working together and avoiding contract arbitration, which would have started Wednesday if the sides couldn’t reach an agreement.

The terms of the contract for the department’s 28 officers includes a 2.75 percent raise this year, a 2.5 percent raise for next year and a 2.5 percent raise for 2016.

It also includes a deferred retirement option plan, increased employee contributions to health care and increased flexibility in the scheduling of sergeants and detectives.

According to numbers released by the township, an officer during the first year on patrol will start at $26.81 per hour. That will climb to $28.17 for a rookie officer starting in 2016.

Sergeants will start at $41 per hour under the agreement, a figure that will increase to $43 per hour in 2016.

In addition, officers will now pay 8 percent of their health insurance premium for health coverage instead of the 7 percent under the old contract.

The contract, ratified unanimously Tuesday by the township supervisors, is the culmination of nearly a year of work between the township and the police association. Andree said negotiations started in the summer of last year.

Both sides appeared headed to arbitration before a 12-hour bargaining session earlier this week rectified the situation.

“Our consensus was, ‘Let’s not turn over our fate to a third person who doesn’t share the same views sometimes or the same passion,’” Andree said about an arbitrator. “We made a collective decision to get this thing resolved.”

He added, “We have one of the finest police departments in Western Pennsylvania, and township management was committed to finding a solution,” he said.

He praised the leadership of police officers Jeff Kobistek and Rob Capezio, who represented the officers during the negotiations.

Capezio said the police association is “very happy” that the two sides reached an agreement, especially because the arbitration process can be lengthy and messy.

“Whenever we go to arbitration, it gets very expensive for our police association and it costs the township money and the taxpayers ultimately,” Capezio said. “We were able to avert all of that with an agreement everyone can live with and everyone is happy with.”

The officer also praised Andree and credited his leadership as a factor in resolving the contract.

“His involvement was a huge key and a big success,” Capezio said. “He had a willingness to talk to us openly in the whole process.”