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PICKETING FOR
PAY From the Houston Chronicle, April 18, 2006 About 50 Harris County deputy sheriffs picketed outside the
county Administration Building on Tuesday, saying they are paid less than
officers in other large Texas cities. In March, Commissioners Court tried to prevent an exodus of
deputies to the Houston Police Department and other agencies statewide by
authorizing a 2 percent raise in June and an additional 3 percent
cost-of-living increase in September. Even with those increases, entry-level deputies will make less
than entry-level officers in most other large Texas cities, said Sgt. Richard
Newby, president of the Harris County Deputies' Organization Local No. 154. An entry-level officer in Dallas makes $41,960, he said. By
September, entry-level Harris County deputies will make $37,577. Dick Raycraft, the county's budget
officer and director of management services, said he and other county
officials continue to study whether the county can afford to give deputies an
additional raise. County Judge Robert Eckels said,
"We're not unsympathetic. We'll have an answer. We're working on
it." Voters may end fight over police bargaining Fort Collins residents might be
casting ballots in a special September election that could amend the City
Charter. The Northern Colorado Fraternal Order
of Police Lodge No. 3 is seeking a change that would allow binding
arbitration as part of the collective bargaining process with police
employees. The group has about half the required
9,000 signatures, which are due May 22, said Scott Goff, president of FOP
Lodge No. 3. In 2004, voters approved a measure allowing
the approximately 150 members of Fort Collins police to negotiate
collectively for better pay and working conditions. The measure also
stipulated that should an impasse be declared, it would be sent to a
third-party arbiter for resolution. In July 2005, after 58 days of
negotiation, the FOP declared an impasse, but the city determined that
sending the case for arbitration was contrary to the City Charter, which
requires that city employee wages be set by the City Council with the help of
the city manager and others. A court challenge by the city
ultimately declared that portion of the measure invalid, and the city resumed
negotiations with the FOP, leading to a two-year contract that included a
wage raise. In February, City Council passed a
resolution urging residents to not sign the petition, but Goff said the
charter needs to be changed because the city is unwilling to negotiate in
good faith on issues such as vacation time and health insurance. Mayor Doug Hutchinson said the move
would be bad for the city because a non-elected, third-party negotiator would
not be accountable to citizens. "We (council members) are
accountable to the public," he said. Goff said he doesn't trust the
council or the city to do what is best for the department and would rather
take his chance at losing in arbitration. "If we go into arbitration,
we'll have no say, but it'll be fair and impartial," he said. "I
would like things to come out in favor of employees sometimes. Now (with no
binding arbitration), we never win." It could also be problematic to have
the police department on a different pay schedule and have their salaries
negotiated differently than the rest of city workers, Hutchinson said.
"We've worked to have equity," he said, citing the across-the-board
wage freezes of recent years. The election would cost the city
about $100,000, Hutchinson said. Goff said they sought a special
election after they were denied a spot on the primary election ballot.
"We don't want it to get buried under what looks like a heated
governor's race," he said. "It needs to be directed at
citizens." Bigger
benefits, more money offered as recruiting pool dwindles
That was great for the suburban city but made it hard for other
local jurisdictions trying to lure officers. With more than 50 vacancies in the department and a need for
more than 100 additional sheriff's deputies, officials decided to offer
$2,000 hiring bonuses to try to lure in recruits. That left other departments behind, so cities had to boost
salaries to stay competitive. Now, Lawrenceville is in the middle of the pack, and several of
the jurisdictions are trying to find other ways to attract officers. Recruiting comes down to supply and demand, officials say. In decades past, police departments recruited personnel from the
military, and most of the officers had a tie to the community. "It's an employee's market right now," said Mike Boyd,
chief deputy of the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department. "There are fewer
and fewer applicants competing for more and more jobs. Everybody's trying to
get a leg up. "It comes down to a preference on the applicant's part.
Sometimes, they go with who pays the most. Sometimes they go with who has the
most benefits. Sometimes it's who calls them first." Boyd said a lot of recruitment these days comes down to
marketing campaigns on billboards and the World Wide Web. With a smaller supply of job applicants for public safety across
the country and a huge demand for police officers and sheriff's deputies in
Gwinnett County, few applicants are left for the smaller police jurisdictions
in the area. Competition for cops is leaving some small police forces
short-handed or begging city councils for higher salaries. But it isn't just
pay that differentiates local police forces. Family atmosphere, insurance payments, college tuition, training
and opportunities for advancement are other inducements that jurisdictions
are offering to attract the finest officers. "When you've got Gwinnett County giving bonuses, we surely
can't compete with that," said Lt. Dennis Dorsey of the Winder Police
Department. "It's a problem in law enforcement in general." Being down two to five officers can be a major obstacle for a
28-person force, he said. So on Jan. 1, the city raised salaries by 5 percent, and the
boost helped. Since then, most of those vacancies have been filled, Thomas
said, with only one slot remaining. If that post is filled, the department
will be at full staff for the first time since 2003, he said. "There's no secret that this specific sector is very
competitive," he said. "We want to make sure we have the best and
brightest officers." Thomas said he didn't believe the $2,000 incentive from Gwinnett
had been a factor in Lilburn's hiring. "We try to talk to (recruits) not only about the pay but
the benefit of working with a close-knit community police department,"
he said. "We believe we have a strong leadership staff in place. We
have a supportive community and supportive City Council. It just depends on
what someone is looking for." Keeping good help It's hard to hire people, but it's also important to retain the
officers the city currently has, he said. That proposition didn't work, but Stidd
was able to quickly hire people for two new positions. "We've tested more people in the last three or four months
than we did in the last three or four years," Stidd
said. The chief, who still works on the street, said the city recently
created a Web site that gets 30,000 hits a month and started streamlining its
hiring process and doing active recruiting with the Georgia Department of
Labor. The small but full-service police department is attractive, Stidd said. It's the only department of its size to have a SWAT team and the
community policing program and ability for officers to take home vehicles are
enviable, he said. The city also pays 100 percent of insurance costs and gives
tuition for college and other perks. Stidd, who talked
with the Gwinnett Daily Post just moments after making a job offer that would
fill his department, said his latest recruit didn't even know the starting
pay at the department until his interview with the chief, the last stage of
the hiring process. "Norcross is a good place to be a cop," he said.
"The mayor has always taken care of us. I'm happy, but I'm not content.
I'd love to get them better pay. I want to see the city grow." In fact, Jaster said, many
jurisdictions are laying people off. When he was 15 weeks into the police academy, he was told he'd
have to leave Michigan for a chance at a law enforcement job. After applying for several departments in Florida, which takes
the Michigan certification, Jaster heard about the
Gwinnett County Police Department. The chief of police in his hometown has a son who works in Gwinnett's Fire Department, and he highly recommended the
Police Department based on its reputation. "They all heard of Gwinnett County," Jaster said. "This is one of the best police
departments in the Southeast." Jaster and two
other friends turned in applications and two of them were hired. The 22-year-old who wanted to be a cop all his life is now on
his way - going through Gwinnett's Police Academy. "Their money down here is very good," he said.
"The bonuses helped." But it was the department's reputation that drew the young
recruit. Word of mouth, several officials said, is usually the best way
to entice a person to apply for the department. For those who can't compete with the dollars, it's the
reputation and the other amenities that they hope will fill the force. Chief Roy Whitehead said a few officers have left recently for
other opportunities, including one who left to join the Sheriff's Department. "I think it's a good place to work. We have good working
conditions," Whitehead said. The city has a quality benefit package, including fully paying
for health insurance for dependents. Whitehead said he's trying to establish a waiting list for the
city force, conducting a review board every few months to look at
applications. The last time he had an opening, he hired someone within days of
receiving the employee's resignation letter. "We've been fairly successful, but anytime the salaries go
up, you have to look at it," Whitehead said. Benefits don't always keep up With all the hiring fuss, some are worried about those officers
who have been loyal to the department for years. "A lot of the departments are throwing the money at the new
recruits, but a lot of times the benefits decreased," said Ray Dunlap, a
retired Gwinnett County police officer who heads the Fraternal Order of
Police. Dunlap said the problem is officers are starting at higher
salaries, but those who are already in the department often get
short-changed. Many, he said, are leaving for the private sector, and other
officials have said that skipping from one job to another - which used to be
a rarity in public sector jobs - is becoming more prevalent. "I don't think the competition between departments is that
big a problem," Dunlap said. "I think there are problems more with
retaining who they have. Pay has
increased. Benefits have increased, but law enforcement is severely lacking
when compared to the private sector."
Maj. Don Woodruff said the department doesn't want to take the
risk of paying for someone to go through statewide training only to have them
leave the department. But Woodruff said the department is rethinking that policy to
get more qualified applicants. The interest is there, he said. He receives five phone calls and
10 e-mails on an average day from people interested in working there. "With three, I'm not sweating it," Woodruff said.
"We either run feast or famine." Minden city
employees get pay raises From The
Times. April 18, 2006
Checks
recently distributed reflect pay increases ranging from 8.24 percent to 13.34
percent. That's $140 to more than $200 more a month. |
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