The Need for More Uniformed Police Officers
Does Not Justify Giving Big Raises to Civilians
If inadequate pay for uniformed police officers is a reason that the Police
Department is not at full complement, then providing above the cost of living
wages to civilian employees does not help, but hurts in solving this problem.
Under current conditions we should be careful about how new funds are spent by
the Police Department. Every dollar directed to big raises for civilian employees is
one less dollar that can be deployed to hire keep uniformed police officers.
Over the course of the 4 years of the contract with the civilian employees, the
Police Department will need to pay a total of about $325,000 for the increase
wages included in the contract. Some or all of those funds could better be directed
to hiring additional uniformed officers.
The Police Commission Did Not Act Responsibly in Upping
The Total Raises for Civilian Employees from 9.5% to 11.25%
The Civilian Contract covers lawyers, information technology staff, and others.
When the Police Commission first submitted this contract to the Board of
Aldermen the contract included wage increases of 9.5% over 4 years. The union
had agreed to this 9.5% increase.
The original version of the contract also expanded the City’s potential unfunded
obligation to pay cash for unused sick time to the civilian employees to about
$350,000. Second, for the first time it obligated the City to pay for unused sick
time upon resignation, rather than just retirement. I have made my opposition to
any expansion of this unfunded liability very clear for a long time.
When the Board of Aldermen first voted on the Civilian Contract just before the
November city election, I asked that the Board to reject the contract because it
included an expansion of the unfunded obligation to pay cash for unused sick time.
On a divided vote the Board did not approve the contract.
When the Police Commission resubmitted the contract to the Board of Aldermen a
few weeks ago, the Commission did not simply remove the unused sick time
buyout provisions as requested. Instead the Commission upped the total wage
package increase from 9.5% to 11.25% including 3% wage increases in years 2, 3,
