AL Mayor Proposes Pay Scale to Increase Firefighter, Police Salaries

ATHENS, AL—Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks presented a proposed public safety pay scale Monday that would increase the starting base pay by $6,000 for police and by $3,000 for firefighters.

The increased cost of adopting the proposed public safety pay scale, which would include increases across all steps, would be more than $636,000 a year, including salary, federal payroll taxes and retirement, according to a cost analysis reviewed by the City Council at a work session on Monday.

“This is the administration’s recommendation to the City Council to get us in line with (public safety salaries in) cities around us,” Marks said. He told council members that there’s a “funding stream” to pay for the measure that “we haven’t tapped into.”

According to the plan, the starting base pay would be $42,067.20 for a police officer and $36,320.04 for a firefighter.

Athens Police Chief Floyd Johnson, who brought the pay issue to the council at the fiscal 2020 budget hearings and again last month, said the pay scale will “make us more competitive” in recruiting and retaining officers.

Johnson said the department is losing some employees after two to three years and some after five years with the police force.

“A lot of it is based on salary,” he said.

The annual cost of the proposed pay scale plan, including salary, federal payroll taxes and retirement, would be $439,041.81 a year for the Police Department and $197,580.83 for Athens Fire & Rescue, according to the documents presented to the council.

The City Council last month approved a 3% cost-of-living increase, effective this month, for all full-time hourly and salaried employees.

Marks said after the meeting the money to pay for the public safety pay increase would come from a contingency fund that holds 20% of the proceeds of a 1-cent sales tax in place since 2012, and he expects the funds will cover the amount needed for the first year and possibly the second year of the plan.

Marks told council members that in his opinion, there’s also a critical need in the next year to consider an increase in the number of steps in the city’s salary schedule from 11 currently to “at least 16 steps.”

“It would be quite costly,” he said. He said there are a lot of city departments, though, with “topped-out employees.”

According to Human Resources Director Marsha Sloss, employees who reach the 11th step don’t get a pay raise unless the council approves a cost-of-living raise or other pay adjustment or employees get a promotion.

Adding steps to the salary schedule down the road is “very important to keep people and be competitive with other agencies,” Johnson said.

Marks and Council President Frank Travis agreed the city will also need to address pay for employees in other departments. Public safety is “the one we kicked the door open on” first, Marks said.

Base salary data for area law enforcement agencies for fiscal 2020 compiled by Sloss showed: Hartselle police, $35,568; Madison County Sheriff’s Office, $40,747.20; state troopers, $41,277.20; Madison police, $42,964.48; Limestone County Sheriff’s Office, $43,427; and Huntsville police, $46,675.

The data for other base salaries for fire departments in fiscal 2020 showed: Florence, $34,506.72; Hartselle, $35,971.20; Madison, $36,489.44; Decatur, $37,285.87; and Huntsville, $38,979.20.

— [email protected] or 256-340-2438. Twitter @DD_MAccardi.

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