The vote, which took place from Tuesday night to Wednesday night in order to cover all three police shifts, ratified the new one-year labor contract between the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 93 and the city.

FOP President Phil Evans said it was approved by an 81 percent margin, but he declined to release vote totals.

More officers participated in this union vote than any other before, he said.

“I think they really wanted to show support for our younger officers, who would have been out the door had this not passed,” Evans said.

The furlough days essentially amount to a 3.1 percent cut in pay for each officer, but it was either that or see 48 fellow officers—including the 10 newest academy graduates—laid off from the 781-member force.

Unlike most city employees, who have to take specific furlough days, officers will schedule theirs as they do vacation time so as not to disrupt the Police Department’s operations.

Tulsa firefighters will vote on their labor contract, which also contains the eight furlough days, from Thursday morning to Saturday evening.

Tulsa Firefighters Local 176 President Stan May said that while there is some opposition, he believes it will ultimately pass. If it doesn’t, it will mean losing roughly 42 of the city’s 685 firefighters.

Mayor Kathy Taylor said she is pleased that the police contract has been approved.

“This was the only solution when we are facing such serious economic challenges as a city,” Taylor said.

The only other option would have been to reduce the Tulsa Police Department’s numbers, she said, adding, “That’s certainly something we have sought to avoid, but we have to close that budget gap.”

Police officers still hold onto a lot of perks of the job, including take-home vehicles, education pay of $1,200 annually for having a required bachelor’s degree, and longevity pay for years on the job, according to a recent City Council presentation.

Taylor originally proposed a $578 million budget to the council but had to trim it to roughly $567 million because of plummeting revenue before it was approved last month.

The extra cuts meant bumping the number of furlough days for all city employees from four to eight. The mayor made it clear that she wanted all employee groups to share in the burden.

The last city furloughs—four days—occurred in 2002 during Mayor Bill LaFortune’s first year in office. Those did not involve police officers or firefighters.