By Mike Dunn

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — An arbitrator has given Philadelphia police officers a bit of an early Christmas present, though it remains to be seen if the Nutter administration will play Scrooge.

The local FOP’s current five-year deal with the city is now in its fourth year.  An arbitrator has now announced decisions on the wages for years four and five, which were not set in the original deal.

Police officers will get a three-percent raise in the current year and a three-percent raise in the fiscal year that begins next July.  They will also get a one-percent hike in “stress” pay, which will go from five percent to six percent.

FOP Lodge 5 chief John McNesby is generally pleased.

“If you look at the whole award from (fiscal year) ’09, it was a fair award for police,” he tells KYW Newsradio, “but it was also very good for the city.”

That’s because the city was given, for the first time, the right to furlough officers and important changes in the health and pension plans.

The Nutter administration has the right to appeal this wage award for the two final years.  A spokesman for the mayor says only that they are currently studying it to determine its financial impact.