Public safety - City's pay plan falls short

A proposed plan that would boost pay for Cape Girardeau city employees fails to adequately reward longtime police officers and firefighters, some public safety employees say.

"There is a huge amount of unhappiness in both the police and fire departments over this pay plan," said John Oliver, an attorney for the Cape Girardeau Police Officers Benevolent Association.

Several police officers privately voiced frustration with the pay plan -- which was prompted by passage of the fire sales tax -- but said they didn't want to comment publicly and risk criticism from the city administration.

Even Mayor Jay Knudtson agrees the plan may need some revisions.

The pay plan, which would take effect on Jan. 1, would boost police and firefighter salaries by an average of 12 percent and other city employees by an average of 8 percent, city officials said.

"It is good math, but it is misleading," the police association's Oliver said. Most police officers and firefighters would get pay raises lower than that, he said.

City officials acknowledge that many city employees stand to receive pay raises of less than the average percentages.

Knudtson said the city needs a pay plan that makes it easier to recruit and retain police officers and firefighters. The plan boosts entry-level salaries to a point where the city should be able to do that, he said.

The salary for entry-level police officers would jump nearly 23 percent from $24,044 to $29,546. Beginning firefighters also would be paid $29,546, a 27 percent increase over the current starting salary.

But Knudtson worries that the plan falls short of adequate pay raises for perhaps 40 or more veteran officers and firefighters who would receive much smaller percentage increases. "At first glance, they were not being rewarded for their loyalty," the mayor said.

Knudtson said higher salaries are essential for the city to recruit and retain police officers and firefighters. The mayor said that's not a major challenge in other city departments right now. "If we were to lose someone in public works we could replace someone in short order," Knudtson said.

Knudtson said city manager Doug Leslie is considering ways to further boost the pay for longtime police officers and firefighters.

No raises last year

But city officials said workers in all city departments deserve a boost in pay, particularly since there were no pay raises last fiscal year and only small pay increases in the two previous years.

While the focus publicly before the fire sales tax election was on raising public safety salaries, Brooks said the city administration had pledged to raise city salaries if possible for workers in the other departments too.

The pay plan rolled out by city staff last week hasn't been finalized. The council expects to consider possible revisions when it meets Dec. 6. "Just remember, it is still a work in progress," Knudtson said.

Officials at city hall insist the new pay plan will boost salaries to a wage competitive with other cities of comparable size. But at best the plan still would leave Cape Girardeau city salaries in the bottom half of a salary survey that compared the city government wages for all the different positions with those of a dozen other cities in Missouri and nearby states. The other cities are Ballwin, Blue Springs, Chesterfield, Columbia, Jefferson City, Joplin, Sikeston, St. Charles, St. Joseph and Springfield, Mo., and Carbondale, Ill., and Paducah, Ky.

Cape Girardeau city officials said these cities includes both those which are similar in size and government organization and some larger cities such as Springfield and St. Charles that have hired former Cape Girardeau police officers or firefighters.

The plan would put salaries of Cape Girardeau police and firefighters at 97 percent of the median salaries in the study. Salaries would equal 92 percent of the median for Cape Girardeau city employees in all other departments.

"Even with the significant raises we are seeing, we are still not up to even half of the market," said fire chief Richard Ennis.

"All of this just emphasizes how low our pay was to begin with."

No pay plan is perfect, city officials said. "There is no way to give everyone the pay they think they deserve," said Heather Brooks, assistant to the city manager.

$1.2 million boost

The city's payroll currently totals $16.7 million even before the city considers pay raises. The proposed plan would cost the city nearly $1.2 million in added wages and benefits for 370 full-time employees. Public safety jobs account for 134 of those positions.

Boosting pay to 100 percent of the market's median salaries would cost more than $1.6 million. City officials say Cape Girardeau can't afford to do that.

The city plans to use money from the new fire sales tax as well as general fund revenue and increases in sewer and trash fees to pay for the raises that are proposed.

The council has said that raising public safety salaries is the top priority when it comes to pay raises. City officials said pay raises for police and firefighters were promised to voters who overwhelmingly approved a quarter-cent fire sales tax in June to fund public safety improvements.

The council had promised to spend $558,250 from fire sales tax revenue to raise public safety salaries. But the city actually plans to spend $605,829 on pay raises for police and firefighters. The difference will come out of general fund money, city officials said.

Raises for employees in other city departments will come from the general fund and the city's various service funds such as trash and sewer. The city plans to raise sewer fees by 2.3 percent and trash fees by 3.7 percent to help fund those pay raises.

City department heads said most city employees would see pay raises of less than the average percentage increases stated in the pay plan. Public works director Tim Gramling estimated most of his department's employees would receive 5 and 6 percent pay raises.

Public works

But he said most of the public works employees were satisfied with the pay plan. "Most of them are pretty much happy to get anything," Gramling said.

The majority of firefighters would receive 8 to 9 percent raises, fire chief Ennis estimated.

"The senior firefighters are somewhat disappointed in the raise," Ennis said. "But they also realize there is only so much money. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear the city can bump everybody at the same rate."

Police chief Steve Strong, who has pushed for higher salaries for his officers, said 45 of his officers -- 61 percent of the force -- would receive less than 12 percent pay raises.

Eleven corporals in the department -- all officers with more than 10 years of service -- would receive 8.5 percent pay raises, Strong said.

The police department is budgeted for 74 commissioned officers. But four positions currently are vacant because low starting pay has hindered hiring efforts, the police chief said.

Under the pay plan, 56 officers would receive pay raises of more than $3,000.

Strong concedes the pay raises are significantly higher than in past years and will make it easier to hire new officers.

"I've never known the city to give these kinds of pay raises in any year," said Strong, who has worked for the city for more than 28 years.

Still, he said he wants to see his veteran officers properly compensated for their years of service.

Equity steps

Brooks said the city administration has sought to do so by including four equity steps for police and firefighters to take into account their years of experience in setting their salaries. The plan includes only three equity steps for all other city employees.

Employees with one to three years of experience would be bumped up one step on the salary schedule. Those with four to six years of experience would get two steps. Those with seven to nine years of experience would be moved up three steps on the salary schedule. Police and firefighters with more than 10 years of experience would be bumped up four steps.

The pay plan also increases the number of steps on the salary schedule from 12 to 22. Under the old pay schedule, employees who had reached the top step of the pay plan would realize a lump sum cost-of-living bonus every year, but the amount wouldn't be added to the salary.

As a result, it wouldn't boost the salary level used in calculating that person's government retirement pension, city officials said.

The increased steps will make a big difference in employees' future retirement pay, Brooks said. "It is a huge benefit," she said.

In addition to 2 percent step increases annually under the pay plan, employees also would receive cost-of-living increases, city finance director John Richbourg said.

That could mean total pay raises of at least 3 to 4 percent a year, assuming that the city has the money to fully fund the plan, he said.

If there's not enough funding in a particular year, city officials plan to give cost-of-living increases first rather than step raises. That keeps the salary schedule itself from being out of line, Brooks said.

"You don't have to play catch-up." she said. "It is much more fiscally responsible."

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123