Texas City’s Public Safety Salaries Raised – Firehouse.com News

This is what I am talking about. A raise to keep pay competitive, a 12 step raise formula to reach top pay, and an incentive to work harder and achieve more to get to top pay quicker. Unfortunately the biggest difference between the area in the article and Roanoke City is that McKinney is growing and Roanoke is shrinking. Maybe if City Council can get it together long enough to make a decision Roanoke City can move on.

Texas City’s Public Safety Salaries Raised – Firehouse.com News:

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…

…”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. (Read More)