‘We’ve had two years of inaccuracies’: Police union president wants payroll answers before Seattle recoups overpayments

Seattle’s police union wants the city to resolve what it describes as two years of payroll inaccuracies, including underpayments, before determining how much officers must return from a $13.1 million back-pay error.

Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) President Kent Loux joined “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio to discuss the overpayments affecting more than 900 police employees. His position: Officers are not trying to keep money they were never owed, but they want the city to show its math.

“We’ve had two years of inaccuracies, of problems with payroll and paychecks and things like that,” Loux said.

The city previously confirmed that the overpayments resulted from using incorrect base rates to calculate retroactive raises under the police union’s contract. The calculations used 2020 rates instead of 2024 rates, making payments larger than the negotiated 6% increase required.

Those payments went out June 12. The city confirmed the error was not caused by its current payroll system, Workday.

KIRO host Ursula Reutin asked whether officers could tell something was wrong when the checks arrived. Loux explained that members do not see the calculations behind the payments, making it difficult to understand how the city arrived at the amounts.

“We don’t see the back end of that,” Loux said. “I don’t know how all that gets calculated.”

KIRO host Gee Scott pressed him on whether the union’s position was that officers should not have to repay the money. Loux rejected that characterization.

“So that is not our position,” Loux responded. “Our position is if we’re claiming an overpayment, we have to first address the underpayments. We have to go back and address the past two years of inaccuracies.”

Police union wants underpayments addressed, too

Loux emphasized that the union wants to work with the city to determine accurate amounts, rather than treat the overpayments separately from other paycheck problems.

“We don’t want money that we’re not owed,” Loux said.

He described payroll issues that the union was still identifying.

“Then even today, we’re literally finding out more little things that are all adding up. And how does that compound over two years? So all we’re looking for is going back and forth to the city to work out what’s accurate,” Loux said.

Ursula shared that an SPD officer she knows faces a repayment approaching $20,000. While that officer still has the money, he told her some colleagues do not.

Loux pointed to another complication: Some employees directed the payments into investment accounts, meaning the money was not necessarily available as cash. He also raised questions about the tax consequences of recovering those funds.

“There’s a lot of tax implications here. There’s a lot of things that we have to unravel,” Loux said.

The city previously confirmed it was consulting deferred compensation and federal tax experts about correcting overpayments contributed to employees’ deferred compensation accounts.

Loux’s preferred outcome is to resolve the underpayments and other inaccuracies, establish correct amounts and negotiate a repayment plan.

The city must bargain with SPOG over the repayment method and has not provided a definitive timeline for recovering the money.

Chief turnover frustrates rank-and-file officers

The conversation also turned to Seattle’s search for a permanent police chief and the impact of repeated leadership changes.

Loux described officers as frustrated by the turnover, with some coming to expect that a chief will last only a year or two.

“I’d love to get somebody in there for a number of years, though, that can stay the course,” Loux said.

Asked about interim Chief Andre Sayles, Loux praised his ability to connect with rank-and-file officers and his willingness to hear the union’s concerns. But he stopped short of endorsing him over other potential candidates.

“But there’s also going to probably be many other qualified candidates that we have to sort through too,” Loux said.

On staffing, Loux explained that completing the state academy is only one step toward working independently in Seattle. Recruits also undergo department-specific training and work with field training officers. He described a bottleneck at the field-training stage and noted that he was working with the interim chief to address it.

“Then you’re getting to FTO, you’re getting out on the street, and you’re really starting to learn the job, so there is a bit of a bottleneck, which we’re trying to address really with FTOs,” Loux said.

Loux calls for enforcement and intervention

Ursula also asked Loux to explain his differences with Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson over public safety.

Loux called for more officers responding to calls and working in the community, alongside a justice system that can support arrests, prosecutions and accountability.

“My view is we need to be protecting our most productive and our most vulnerable,” Loux said.

Discussing sex trafficking and violence along Aurora Avenue, he argued that enforcing existing laws could create opportunities to identify and help victims.

“I would want to use the laws on the books to actually rescue them. To create that intervention,” Loux said.

He emphasized that making an arrest does not necessarily mean pursuing prosecution.

“It doesn’t mean you have to go prosecute, but it does mean that you can intervene here, and you could potentially rescue some people,” Loux said.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.