The San Antonio Police Officers Association plans to review a counteroffer to a proposal they made Monday for a new labor contract.

The main issues that the union and the city continue to debate center on the cost of health care and salary increases.

If the police union wants to increase health care benefits beyond what the city offered Friday, the added cost would have to be absorbed by proposed wage increases, city officials said.

Ron DeLord, SAPOAs chief negotiator, told the citys team at the bargaining table that its possible the two sides could reach agreement on March 31 the last bargaining session the two sides have scheduled.

I dont see any way to reach a deal today. I think that we are closer and closer, but not close enough yet, DeLord said. We have another day on the 31st, which may be the finish or not day. Well see.

DeLord and union boss Mike Helle noted that the city has provided free health care for officers and their dependents since 1978 and giving that up is, according to DeLord, a monumental shift.

Theres value for that, he said.

Under proposals made both by the city and the union, officers would begin paying health care premiums on Jan. 1. The union has sought a plan that would include health care without premiums. Dubbed a consumer-driven health plan, such medical insurance includes high deductibles, which would be offset by city contributions to a health savings account. The two sides continue to argue over how much that contribution should be.

And just how much officers would receive in increased pay between now and fiscal year 2018 has become a point of contention in negotiations that have dragged on for more than a year. The two sides have spent most of the time negotiating over health care, which City Manager Sheryl Sculley had identified as a skyrocketing expense that needed to be reined in.

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Health care, wages still in dispute between city and police union