|
|
Pay Raise
Helps DPD Recruitment Plan Gain Support From CBS 11
News, March 30, 2006 DALLAS Dallas has had only 96
officers join the force in the past five years, despite a budget for 170 new
positions. Public
safety salaries raised McKinney: Pay for city's police,
firefighters now among best in region From April 6, 2006
McKINNEY – McKinney
police and firefighters now take home some of the highest salaries among
public safety workers in the Dallas area. And that's just how city leaders want it. The City Council approved big raises this week to put the
departments' pay scales on par with other North Texas cities, council members
said. The average raise will be about 15 percent. Everyone is
guaranteed at least a 5 percent increase. "It will place us in the position where we can attract and
retain qualified officers," Police Chief Doug Kowalski said. "This
is a competitive market." City officials surveyed salaries in other North Texas cities
with similar characteristics, and they found that McKinney had fallen behind
over the past few years. Before the council approved the raises Tuesday
night, McKinney ranked last among 12 cities surveyed. After the increase, McKinney jumped to third place. "One of the most important things we do is provide public safety," City Manager Larry Robinson
said. "In recent months we discovered that we were falling behind in
terms of compensation." Council member Pete Huff said a similar survey several years ago
showed that McKinney's salaries ranked high among other cities. But McKinney
fell behind as neighboring communities upgraded salaries to attract officers
and firefighters. "It's not like we were asleep at the switch," Mr. Huff
said. "A couple of years ago we were competitive. But the market took
off." A fast-growing city like McKinney, whose population has exceeded
104,000, needs a competitive pay plan to lure recruits and experienced
officers to growing departments, Chief Kowalski said. The plan allows
officers with experience to earn higher salaries than new recruits. "It will translate into better service for the
citizens," he said. Under the new plan, a police officer and firefighter-paramedic
would be paid a starting salary of $48,292. The 12-step salary plan tops out
at $61,547. The old plan paid new officers and firefighters $39,355. The
highest salary was $55,097. The raises will cost the city about $1 million
this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. It will cost roughly $2 million in the
next full fiscal year. The new 12-step plan allows the employees to reach the top
salary faster than they would have under the old system. Under the former
scale, it took 12 years to reach the maximum salary. The new plan allows
employees to skip a step based on high performance evaluations. A high
achiever can reach the top in six years. "Public safety is one of our core businesses, and the
bottom line is, this plan will help us enhance our offerings in that
area," said Mayor Bill Whitfield. Panel may try to aid fire, police talks From the
Commercial Appeal, April 3, 2006 It's looking like a Memphis City Council impasse
committee will be called upon to intervene in a contract deadlock between
city negotiators and unions representing more than 3,500 police and
firefighters. Negotiations ended late Friday when
the city offered no pay raises for the next two years, Memphis Police
Association (MPA) President Tommy Turner said
Sunday. Memphis Firefighters Association
spokesman Joe Norman would not disclose the exact terms offered by the city
but said they were similar to what the police union was offered. Both firefighters and police made
what they considered conciliatory counteroffers. "We made as generous an offer to
them as we could," Norman said. In addition to wages, both unions are
fighting limits on the amount the city will reimburse their members for
attending college classes. Unions have ratification meetings
scheduled for this weekend to officially turn down the city's offers,
spokesmen for both groups said. The impasse committee will study the city's and the union packages and make a recommendation to
the full City Council. Turner said the city made its offer
with no raises shortly before the midnight deadline Friday. "It stinks," he said.
"It was the biggest waste of time I've spent in my life." Police and firefighters have
no-strike clauses in their contracts. The police were asking for 4 percent
for each of the next two years but most recently offered to take just 1
percent for this year in hopes the city has a better financial footing by
this time next year. City negotiator attorney Louis Britt
could not be reached for comment Sunday. Police wages thin ranks From The Fayetteville (NC) Observer, April 2, 2006 It’s about 10 a.m. on a Thursday, and
William Merriman is driving through an area notorious for drugs and
prostitution. Merriman, his elbow on the edge of the
window and a cigarette in hand, stays quiet so he can hear the people warn
others that he’s around. He smiles as he glances at a crowd of men gathered
on the sidewalk. Merriman, who spent 20 years in the Army, has been with the
Fayetteville Police Department for three years. He is beginning the first of five 12-hour
days. Working the long shifts is not unusual, but working more than four
consecutive days is. Officers give up at least one of their off days to work
overtime. The department has 47 vacancies, and
Merriman is among the 319 sworn officers who must work overtime to make up
for the missing ones. Police Chief Tom McCarthy said the
department is having a difficult time finding people to fill the jobs — and
keeping the officers it has. He blames low pay and an aging work force. The average age of a sworn officer is 38,
according to the department. Pay problems probably will start to be
resolved this month, as the City Council is scheduled to consider increasing
starting police pay from $29,600 to $32,500. Also being considered is a step pay plan in
which officers will know how much their salary will increase annually.
Salaries will increase between 4percent and 5 percent for 13 years, according
to the plan. If approved, 286 patrol officers and
detectives will see their salaries increase an average of 8.3 percent
starting in May. Increasing the pay for police leadership —
sergeants and above — also is being proposed. Existing salary brackets will
be increased. The pay increase for sergeants and above will be 10 percent of
the midpoint of the new salary brackets. The salary increase will make the city’s
police pay competitive with other North Carolina cities, City Manager Roger Stancil said. “This sends a message to our police
officers,” he said. It should help with retaining officers and recruiting new
ones, Stancil said. McCarthy said he has taken other steps to alleviate
the shortage, such as assigning an officer to serve as a full-time recruiter. “There is no crisis; it’s just a serious
situation,” McCarthy said. “If we took it cavalierly, it would be a crisis.” In a meeting with City Council members in
late February, McCarthy was more colorful: “We’ve done everything but cry
like Jimmy Swaggart on recruiting.” The temporary solution is that officers
such as Merriman are required to work an extra one or two days a week, which
equates to an extra 12 to 24 hours on the job. “At the end of the fifth day you get pretty
worn down, sooner depending on the call volume,” Merriman said. “There’s officer-safety issues; you’re not paying as close
attention as you normally would.”
Bill Rivenbark is
an associate professor at the N.C. Institute of Government in Chapel Hill. He
says there’s no way to determine the point when it becomes unsafe for an
officer to be working. “It’s situational,” Rivenbark
said. McCarthy said he has officers who can work
every day and not tire. Others tire by midweek. “If someone is tired, we’ll put someone in
their place,” McCarthy said. “It’s the job of the first-line supervisors to
shepherd their herd. They’ll evaluate it and make sure each
person is carrying their load.” Needs McCarthy says the overtime is needed to
police the city. Mandating the extra time spreads the burden across the
department and ensures that each of the 26 patrol zones is monitored 24 hours
a day. Some overtime work will be needed until the
department gets all of its allotted officers. That could be a while. “With a turnover rate of 10 percent, to
stay fully staffed over the next year we need to hire 80 officers,” McCarthy
said. He said it could take two years to bring
the department to full strength. In the meantime, district commanders are
handling the situation the “best way they see fit,” spokeswoman Jamie Smith
said. The Campbellton District
requires its officers to work on one of their off days and allows officers to
volunteer for extra shifts. Officers assigned to special units, such as the
mounted horse patrol, also work overtime during peak times, Smith said. Overtime for officers in the Cross Creek
District is not mandated, but they can volunteer to work on the Campbellton side. Most of the openings are on the Campbellton side of town, which includes areas around
Bragg Boulevard, Ramsey Street and downtown. The All American Freeway divides
the Cross Creek and Campbellton districts. Cross
Creek includes Yadkin Road, Skibo Road around the
mall and Reilly Road. Retention McCarthy can name at least a half dozen officers who are eligible to retire within
the next year. Last year, 39 sworn officers retired or
left for other reasons, according to the department. That’s eight more
officers than left in 2004. Aside from the retirees, many who are
leaving are in their fifth or sixth years with the department, he said. “It hurts most to lose those people,”
McCarthy said. “They can take their skills elsewhere and make more money.” During his second year at the department,
Merriman said, he was second in seniority on a squad of 13. He said it was an
indication of how many higher ranking officers were leaving. McCarthy said
many officers go to other agencies, some go to state and federal agencies
and, in recent years, many have left for high-paying contract work overseas. Nevertheless, the common denominator,
McCarthy says, is money. The Winston-Salem Police Department, for
example, has 465 authorized sworn officers and an average turnover rate of 5
percent, said Capt. Bill Cobb, department spokesman. The department had 12 openings that were
expected to be filled by a graduating academy in February. A call to the
Winston-Salem Police Department to confirm whether those openings have been
filled was not returned Friday. McCarthy said his goal is a 5percent to 7
percent turnover rate. “That would be a real success story,” he said. Rivenbark, the associate professor, said the recruitment issue
runs statewide. “Recruitment problems are not unique to
Fayetteville,” he said. “Building up good pools of good individuals is
difficult.” Rivenbark said Fayetteville is heading
in the right direction because it has assigned someone to recruit full time,
it has enhanced its Web site and it is evaluating its pay scale. “Those issues have been addressed, but it
will take time,” Rivenbark said. “Are the funds
available to implement the change?” Last year, overtime cost the department
about $800,000. McCarthy said the department has spent more this year but
expects to come in on budget — about $26 million for personnel. He said
overtime is paid for through the budgeted salaries of the vacancies. The annual cost of the new police pay plan
is $1.6 million. Stancil said that can be funded
without increasing taxes. Department effects Merriman said he’s willing to work extra
time until the department hires more officers. “It’s a job you definitely don’t get into
for the money. To get guys here, you’re gonna have
to pay ’em more. To keep guys here, you’re gonna have to pay ’em more.” Merriman said he wouldn’t turn down a raise
but says he’s in a better situation than some of his co-workers. “I’ve got grown kids,” Merriman said. “It’s
not as big of an issue for me as it is for someone who’s young and has young
kids at home.” He says the overtime pay looks nice on his
paycheck, but he’s not factoring it into his budget. He said he wonders about
his co-workers who depend on that money and what might happen after the
vacancies are filled. Annexation When three lawsuits put Fayetteville’s
annexation of 27 square miles on hold, McCarthy said, “It was like a football
team that got the pep talk and then found the stadium doors locked.” When a court-order stay was temporarily
lifted July 7, 2004, Fayetteville police officers started their patrols and
wrote more that 300 tickets in five days. The tickets were subsequently voided when
the stay was re-imposed. The ticket blitz showed Mayor Pro Tem
Robert Massey the police were ready for annexation. The lawsuits delayed annexation for 15
months. The only city service not affected by the delay was the Fire
Department. It had already taken over the volunteer fire departments in the
area and continued to provide service. McCarthy said annexation played a part in
the shortage. When the city took in the 27 square miles of the county, it
gained 59 sworn positions, 15 of which, McCarthy says, have been filled. “It’s not an overnight problem,” McCarthy
said. “We found out when everyone else found out.” McCarthy said if the department would have
known it was a sure thing, it could have better prepared. Cobb, in Winston-Salem, said that city
experienced annexation in the summer of 2005 and gained 20 positions. He said
his department adjusted the districts and workload to compensate for the gain
of officers. If annexation there would not have gone through, he said,
officials would have readjusted the zones. Recruitment Lt. Anthony Kelly is the Fayetteville
department’s recruiter. He has made a recruitment video, worked on
the department’s Web site to make it more user-friendly and attends as many
job fairs as he can. He said the city is offering its workers an
incentive to help recruit police officers. “The city has offered any city employee
$1,000 to successfully recruit a candidate for the Police Department,” Kelly
said. “It started in December, and we had several people make referrals.” The department has not hired anyone from
the referrals, however. Fayetteville also has changed its minimum
hiring age from 21 to 20, amended its driving policy to allow one conviction
of speeding 15 mph over the limit within three years and has adjusted its
physical agility test. In the past, candidates had to complete 10 push-ups,
10 sit-ups and the physical course in eight minutes, 30 seconds. If a
candidate failed to complete the requirements, he was out. Now, if a candidate completes the test in
nine minutes, 30 seconds, he can retake it twice more in six months. In Durham, officers attend job fairs, visit
school campuses and military installations and hold open houses. Kelly is doing many of the same things,
including talking to soldiers. Still, Kelly said, he struggles with
generational issues. “This generation is different,” Kelly said.
At 38 years of age, Kelly says most people have quit more jobs than he’s had.
“The loyalty is not there like it used to be,” he says. “It’s an honorable profession with job security.
You’ll wake up tomorrow knowing you have a job unless you do something to
mess it up.” Kelly said he’ll continue to work to fill
the vacancies but estimates it will take two years. “It’s realistic,” Kelly said. Police and city reach tentative contract deal Aventura police
officers may soon receive the raises they have been waiting for. On Wednesday, the Miami-Dade Police Benevolent Association and
the city of Aventura approved a tentative
three-year contract that would give the city's officers a total of more than
$1 million in salary increases and other benefits over three years. A big
change in the new contract: Officers will be paid based on time served,
rather than the old merit-based system. The long-awaited contract agreement came one day after the PBA
dropped an unfair labor charge against the city. ''We thought ultimately it was a fair deal,'' said Andrew Axelrad, the assistant general counsel for the PBA.
``Nobody gains by the prolonged dispute.'' Aventura City Manager
Eric Soroka agreed saying, “it is unfortunate it
took this long.'' ''In the end it's a fair and equitable agreement for both the
police employees and the taxpayers of the city,'' he said. With more than seven failed negotiation sessions over a 10-month
span and disputes between the two parties, they could not agree on salaries
or benefits for the department's 11 sergeants and 63 officers. Before the contract is official, all of the city's police
officers first have to ratify the contract and the Aventura
City Commission has to approve it. Axelrad said the
officers could vote as early as next week. With the new contract, officers will be paid based on their
years of service in the form of nine steps, which is a new way of
compensating them. Officers' salaries will start at $43,000 and end at
$60,500 in the first year, with five percent increases between each step. A
sergeant's starting salary will be $58,000 and end at $74,000, also with five
percent increases between each step. The city also raised the cost of living increase for the second
and third year of the contract to 3.5 percent from the 3 percent it
originally proposed. ''We are satisfied,'' Axelrad said.
``They have been receiving too small pay checks for too long.'' The PBA fought for higher salaries and benefits, saying they
were not in line with neighboring agencies. The PBA had proposed that
officers would start at $44,000, topping off at $67,902. Currently, Aventura officers start at
$39,000 with a maximum of $55,000. North Miami Beach officers start at
$40,620 with a maximum of $63,352. The city maintained the position that it agreed the officers
deserved raises but couldn't agree on a number. ''We have made a lot of concessions,'' James E. Baker, the
attorney representing Aventura, said at the meeting
Wednesday. The two parties began negotiating the contracts in May. The
contract was supposed to go into effect Oct. 1. The stalled negotiations led the PBA to file an impasse with the
Florida Public Employee Relations Committee in February. With the settlement,
the PBA will drop the impasse. As part of the ongoing dispute, the PBA had
filed an unfair labor practice charge with the state against the city,
claiming the city did not negotiate in good faith and Police Chief Thomas Ribel had violated the rights of the officers. On Tuesday, the parties met to handle the unfair labor practice
charge and ended up settling the matter. The PBA dropped the charge after the city agreed to have Ribel write a letter acknowledging that officers may have
misinterpreted his actions Nov. 15 during a roll call speech. Officers said that during a roll call Ribel
''ranted and raved'' about the officers' participation in the union. Axelrad said ``the
officers didn't misinterpret anything, but we let the city off the hook in
the spirit of good labor relations.'' Ribel's letter will
be posted and distributed to Aventura police
officers. As part of the agreement, $1,000 will be donated to the PBA's charity. Ribel had no
comment on the settlement of the charge. At the beginning of the session Wednesday both the general
counsel for the PBA, Michael Braverman and Baker
were optimistic that an agreement could be made. ''We are not that far apart,'' said Baker. One outstanding issue that kept the parties at odds was the
pension. As part of the agreement, if ever there is a shortfall in pension
contributions, then both parties would sit at the table to decide how to
cover it. Though Axelrad said that contract was
''fair,'' he said the PBA ``conceded on a lot of issues.'' The PBA originally asked for 7.5 percent in between each salary
step, but agreed on the 5 percent increase. They also wanted shift
differentials -- getting a higher salary for working the midnight shift --
which was not done. Plus, he said, they hoped the evaluation process would be
revamped, adding an appeal process for officers. ''Aventura still has work to do with
future contracts before they are truly in line with what some of the
neighboring municipalities receive,'' Axelrad said.
``It is simply worth putting all of this behind us in hopes of a better
future from here on.'' If approved, officers will receive retroactive pay back to Oct.
1, when the contract was supposed to go into effect. Aventura police
officer and the department's PBA representative Richard Lefkowitz
said that the officers were in good spirits on Wednesday. ''We are all happy it's over with,'' he said. ``I think the city
was fair with us in the end.'' Burlington
reaches contract agreements with city workers From The Burlington Free Press, April 4, 2006 BURLINGTON, Vt. --City employees in Burlington will have to pay
more for health care and will have to chip in a share of their pension
benefits under new labor contracts. The agreements, signed by Mayor Peter Clavelle
just six hours before he left office for retirement, cover 73 police officers
represented by the Burlington Police Officers' Association and more than 200
people who are members of the American Federation of State, County, and
Municipal Employees. The four-year contracts are retroactive to when the previous
agreements expired on July 1. They took so long to work out because of the
city's declining finances. "We're happy to get this one behind us," Clavelle said. The negotiations were "the most difficult contract we've
had to work out," said William Rasch, the
local vice president for AFSCME. Part of the problem for both sides was pensions. The city
Retirement Board determined in September that Burlington had put $4.6 million
less toward pensions than it should have. So the city decided it had to
"correct" what chief administrative officer Brendan Keleher termed were overly generous benefits negotiated
six years ago. Under the new contracts, police officers' will contributions
toward pensions will rise to 10.8 percent of base pay, up from 8.8 percent.
The other workers will have to pay 2 percent toward pensions and that amount
will rise to 3 percent in July 2008. Wages will rise for both unions by 2.25 percent in the first
year and 2.75 percent in each of the other three years of the contracts. The amount workers will have to pay for their health insurance
benefits also will rise, to as much as 3.5 percent
of base pay in 2008 if the cost of insurance rises enough. New police officers hired after July 1 also will have to work an
additional three years, until they reach age 45, before they can qualify for
retirement. "We gave a lot," said Detective Cpl. Ray Nails,
president of the police union. "We think it was fair." Both unions have approved the agreements. |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Copyright ã POLICEPAY.NET,
Inc. 2006 All Rights Reserved |
||||||||||||||||||||
The POLICEPAY Journal
Published
by:
POLICEPAY.NET,
Inc.
Oklahoma
City, OK 73102
(405)
234-2235