CAPE POLICE SEEK 10 PERCENT RAISE

Saying Cape Girardeau's police officers are the lowest paid in Missouri cities of similar size, a letter from the rank and file of the Cape Girardeau Police Department requests a 10 percent pay increase.

But the city administration says it doesn't have the money.

City Manager J. Ronald Fischer said he won't recommend across-the-board pay increases for any city employees in the 1995-96 budget.

"The police department seems to be the most vocal about the lack of an across-the-board raise," Fischer said. "But I don't want to discuss this in the media. We're in a communication period right now."

The March 17 letter, addressed to Fisher and members of the Cape Girardeau City Council and signed "Rank and File, Cape Girardeau Police Dept.," said the officers' "workload has increased while our pay and benefits have lagged behind other cities our size."

The letter and a proposal outlining the officers' argument for the pay raise was presented to the city council Monday night.

"We're not being critical of the city staff," said patrolman Barry Hovis. "We have a line of communication right now and that's really all I can say."

Hovis has long been an unofficial spokesman for police officers when it comes to their salaries and benefits.

He refused to comment about the letter addressed to Fisher and the city council.

The letter compared starting salaries for officers in Cape Girardeau and Jefferson City. It said the $19,380 starting pay for Cape Girardeau officers is almost $2,000 less than the starting pay for officers in Jefferson City.

But the city manager said although no across-the-board increases are recommended by the staff, he said officers are eligible for "step" increases in pay on their employment anniversary.

Fisher said the "step" program is a performance-based, or merit-based, pay increase system the city adopted three years ago.

With the program, city employees receive a 2.5 to 3.5 percent pay raise following a positive evaluation of their job performance.

"Essentially, everyone gets a 2.5 to 3.5 percent increase depending on what step position they're at," Fisher said. "Very few employees don't receive this."

Fisher said the step program costs the city an extra $250,000 a year to maintain. He said each additional percentage point of salary increase would cost $75,000.

But the letter advocates a 10 percent total increase in pay for Cape Girardeau's officers only, not for all 350 city employees.

In the current budget, the city's cost for providing salaries and benefits to all the employees in the police department, including administrative and clerical workers, is about $3 million. That means a 10 percent pay raise across the entire department would cost about $300,000.

But Fisher said he is reluctant to give a raise to one group of city employees over another.

The city staff is expected to make its budget recommendations at the May 15 city council meeting.