Councilman Light proposes public safety hiring, pay increases
"Most of the people I have spoke to want more in our public safety," the
Light wants the city to hire three new firefighters and add two police officers, and provide
To do that will require about
Light made his proposal after asking Police Chief
Those do not count administrative and ranked personnel. For instance besides the chief, the police department has two lieutenants, six sergeants, six corporals/detectives and other personnel, including dispatchers, with a department salary total of
With a bond election -- now likely two elections -- that will come before voters asking for approval to borrow monies to pay for renovation of a former bank building into a new City Hall, streets and water and sewer infrastructure repairs and other proposed improvements and projects in the tens of millions of dollars, city staff and Manager
Staff proposed a fiscal 2017-18 budget totaling
Adopting a tax rate at or above the rollback rate of
After Tuesday's meting, Mayor
"I didn't know anything about this until I heard it tonight," Allen said. "I'd like to talk to people on my own and see what they say. I am worried it will kill the bond election."
Most of the council representatives have
Light said both his proposal and the bond projects that will go before voters are all important to the future of the city. He said he understands the financial risk to the city if council goes above the rollback rate and an election succeeds.
"It is a gamble," Light said. "But every penny I have asked for goes toward public safety."
For discussion purposes and to move the budget process to the next step -- an
"It's a benchmark is all it is," explained Upham, meaning council has set the highest tax rate it can adopt this year at
Sullivan told council more officers would help with staffing and providing coverage, especially late at night for a shift that sometimes is short because of absences caused by sickness or vacations. That can be magnified when a third-shift officer has someone in custody who has to go the hospital and then to the county jail.
But the chief said problems his department faces are more than a lack of bodies.
"Adding positions doesn't fix the problem because of the revolving door," Sullivan said. "We would certainly welcome any addition staff funds will provide."
The chief talked about pay gaps the
Still, Sullivan said, other departments in comparable cities pay more. He said the city's police department competes with the
"We really can't bump up our incentives enough to close those gaps," Sullivan said. "It has closed some. We didn't try to address the higher-ranked structure because that is not where the problems occur."
Pool referred to "a city south of us" that he says runs about 1,000 fewer calls per year with nearly double the personnel per shift than
"We are doing a good job on equipment but we are losing people," said Pool. "We are teetering on the edge. We are short, short on people."
What
Pool said hiring three more fire/EMS positions would go a long way to providing some relief and stress on the department, and benefit the city in areas like an improved property insurance rating.
"Shift work is hard for people to understand when they haven't done it," Pool said.
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