Council to decide new round of police, fire raises

Oct. 15--Pay raises averaging 2 to 4 percent for Joplin's public safety workers will be considered Monday by Joplin City Council.

The increases are part of a salary administration plan created by the city manager at the direction of the council to address concerns of public safety workers who said they are falling behind in pay compared with regional agencies and that the city is losing experienced workers as a result.

City Manager Sam Anselm said the individual raises for firefighters average 2 percent. For some individuals, it will range up to 13 percent. For police, some officers will see increases of up to 15 percent with an average of 4 percent across all positions. The manager's recommendation is to take the funding for the raises from the half-cent public safety sales tax that already pays salaries and benefits of officers and firefighters hired since the tax went into effect in 2007.

"If approved, these adjustments will be funded out of the public safety sales tax dedicated to police and fire," Anselm said. "Both chiefs are supportive of the recommendation to use this funding source."

Making the pay adjustments for a year will cost an estimated $362,000 from that fund, according to city documents.

Most workers citywide received pay raises in August when the 2 percent step plan was adopted. They cost more than $800,000.

Cpl. Tom Bowin, a police officer who is treasurer of the police union, Fraternal Order of Police of Southwest Missouri Lodge 27, said officers have received a list of what they will be making if the council authorizes the raises.

"It's certainly made a change, especially if you add it to the 2 percent step plan," Bowin said. The dollar amount of the raises are different according to each officer's position and length of service.

"There was a larger change for some of the officers who have been here a little while and hadn't been getting raises through their career," he said. That has been the intent of city officials who were trying to solve inequities created by inconsistencies in past pay plans and raise amounts.

"Everybody's a little better off than they were, so they feel positive about it, but nobody feels like they are going to be where they should be compared to the other departments," Bowin said.

The proposed raises are set at 50 percent of the average between Joplin pay and the pay in Springfield and four Northwest Arkansas cities.

Bowin said that is in large part because the new Joplin step plan has 20 steps while Springfield, for instance, has 11 steps.

He points to calculations the police union released in August that provides examples of what the officers consider shortfalls in the new pay plan, such as an eight-year police corporal in Joplin making $4,300 less than a Springfield police officer with three years' experience.

After 12 years, a Springfield officer makes about $18,800 more than a comparable Joplin officer, Bowin said.

Council members have said they would push the pay scale up to 80 percent of the average between Joplin and the other cities but that a new revenue source would be needed to fund it.

"Unless a new revenue stream is identified and passed by the voters, it will be difficult to pay for any other adjustments to the ranges without a reduction in services or programs," Anselm said Friday.

The council's finance committee is formulating a report on potential revenue sources.

Bowin said the Fraternal Order of Police supported a use tax proposal that voters rejected in August. Although the police union told residents it supported the tax, voters said they would not support any tax that was not specifically designated for public safety.

In terms of staffing at the Joplin Police Department, Bowin said that as of Oct. 3, it had 17 vacancies, five new hires in the police academy who won't be on duty until May or June, two in field training and four officers on family or medical leave.

"That makes the department 28 short out of 112; that's pretty significant," he said.

In other business, the council will consider ordinances to amend and adopt the city budget that will go into effect Nov. 1. Approval of contracts for employee insurance coverage will be sought.

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