Nine months after their last contract ran out, the city's managers and management staff finally have a new agreement.

City council adopted the bylaw allowing the agreement at Monday evening's council meeting.

Robert Fendrick, the city's director of administrative services, told the Star last week the agreement isn't revolutionary, but people were tired of waiting.

'There aren't all that many big changes,' he said. 'We just wanted the law in.'

While the document was officially passed Monday, it covers the period right after the last agreement expired, which is Jan. 1, 2007. That means city managers ad management staff will receive retroactive pay.

In the first year of the contract, managers' salaries ranged from a minimum of $71,720.43 to a maximum of $126,154,97. In the fourth year, the minimum managers' salary is $78,750.82 and the maximum is $138,521.31.

David Boorse, the city's manager of information systems, said the highlights of the agreement are in the numbers.

'The first thing is the total benefits package comes out slightly less in percentage,' he said Tuesday.

This contract also covers the next four years, until Dec. 31, 2010, while the last agreement covered only three.

'The first three years of this one matches the pay scale increases of the last agreement, but the fourth years is... a little less.'

Members will also receive a $1,000 RRSP contribution and an overall increase to RRSPs of half a per cent, to be contributed by both employees and employers.

Boorse said this agreement also sees long-serving staff receiving bigger bonuses for their prolonged service.

'It is three per cent after 10 years and four per cent after 15.'

The agreement contains what Boorse calls 'minor changes,' which include a slight increase in clothing allowance and the wording has been fixed to clarify the resignation section.