Published: October 17, 2007 09:37 pm            

Cullman city police officer weighs in on pay raise issue

The most important asset any city has is its employees. I think that is one point people from both sides of the ongoing pay dispute involving the city of Cullman and Cullman police officers can agree on. Beyond that both sides seem far apart.

The Cullman Times reported and Mayor Don Green agreed that Cullman officers are paid above the average of other cities in north Alabama and therefore the current pay for police officers was fair. The mayor also wrote about clothing allowances, physical fitness stipend, drive home vehicles and mentioned the lowest paid officer ($29,000) and the highest paid officer ($68,000) in the police department from last year. There is more to each of these stories than was told by Mayor Green.

As reported by The Cullman Times, a starting certified patrolman is paid $12.26/hour or $25,500.80/year. In Hartselle a starting certified patrolman is paid $14.48/hour or $30,118.40/year. In Athens a starting certified patrolman is paid $12.89/hour or $26,811.20. In Alabaster a starting certified patrolman is paid $18.46/hour or $38,417.60/year. Last we have Russellville where a starting certified patrolman is paid $11.5 I/hour or $23940.80/year.

Russellville does add an additional 5% to starting pay for officers who are drager certified and all officers are certified on that in the academy so Russellville actually starts new officers that are certified out at $12.08/hour or $25126.40/year.

Using The Cullman Times’ figures it is hard to understand how they determined that Cullman officers are paid above average when they are 16.9% below the average of the above listed cities on starting pay. If you look at the top-out pay for Cullman police officers compared to the same cities, the gap widens even more to a difference of 26.8%. Each year the city of Cullman fails to give cost of living raises the gap widens even more.

Mayor Green is calling the annual merit raise a cost of living raise. That is not the case. A merit raise is given based on an employee's performance evaluation and is not a guaranteed raise. Also, once an employee tops out he no longer receives a merit raise. So, using the mayors reasoning, when the city gives no cost of living raise and an employee is topped out that employee will receive no raise that year. That doesn't make much since and it certainly doesn't support the mayor's claim that what is fair and appropriate for one group of employees is fair for all.

The mayor's was correct that the lowest paid officer for the city was $29,000.00 and the highest paid was $68,000.00. What he left out is that was not the officer's base pay. Those amounts were determined from base pay plus all overtime worked by officers. Hartselle's lowest paid officer's base pay $30,118.40 which is $1,118.40 more than the lowest paid officer in Cullman receives with overtime. The officer who made $68,000.00 last year is a captain with 35 years of service. His base pay is $48,509.24/year. He works in narcotics and works a large amount of overtime which increased his gross pay by $19,500.00. A portion of that overtime was reimbursed to the city by the federal government due to the nature of his work. Officers should not have to depend on overtime to achieve a fair pay. Due to the nature of our jobs injuries are common. When an officer is injured and unable to perform regular duties they are assigned to light duty.

While on light duty an officer's opportunity for overtime are limited. It is not uncommon to always have one officer on light duty. In this past year there have been officers who had surgery, a broken wrist and a torn ACL. There is usually at least one officer who is off an extended amount of time for the birth of a child. During these times officers are unable to supplement their pay with overtime.

Mayor Green has suggested the possibility of hiring a consulting firm to evaluate the rank structure of the Cullman Police Department. The current rank structure has been the same since 1993 with the exception of an additional captain for narcotics added in 2002. This is Mayor Greens second term in office, so why has he just now decided the rank structure should be evaluated. However, officers in the department are very receptive to this idea. Of course, we would want the evaluation to include officer salaries. I would hope that the mayor would commit to implementing the findings of such an evaluation.

Cullman police patrol officers receive $500.00 a year clothing allowance. That money is paid in a check and taxes are held out. Officers receive approximately $310.00 to purchase uniforms and all gear. (Hartselle and Athens provide all uniforms and gear for officers). A standard uniform costs approximately $90-$ 100 and officers pay sales tax on those uniforms. The city does pay employees who pass a physical fitness test $500.00/year which is also taxed. Police officers are allowed to drive their assigned patrol vehicle home. Officers who live outside the city limit pay $.35/mile for each mile they live beyond five miles from Hwy 278/31 intersection.

I think the best way to determine if the city is being fair and appropriate for one group of employees is fair for all is to look at some salary comparisons between Cullman and the same four cities the police officers pay was compared. Let's start with the mayor and councils salary. Currently the mayor is paid $62,500.00/year and the council is paid $10,800.00/year. This may change next year prior to the election of a new mayor and council. Russellville currently pays their mayor $3 6,000.00/year. Their council pay was unavailable. The 2008 salary for Hartselle's mayor will be $55,000.00/year and the council's will be $6,000.00/year. In Athens the mayor will earn $54,000.00 in 2008 and the council will earn $11,400. The salary for Alabaster's mayor was unavailable and their council salary for 2008 will be $9,000.00 for 2008. When you look at these numbers it is my opinion that this is not being fair and appropriate for all employees.

The last point I want to look at is the financial shape of Cullman. The economy has been strong and Cullman has done an excellent job in recruiting new industry for our area. It has done so well last years operating budget was over 23 million dollars. That's a strong economy. The 2008 budget for Hartselle (which includes a 3% cost of living raise in addition to the merit raise) is 9.7 million dollars. Athens 2008 budget will be 14 million dollars. Alabaster has a budget of 32.4 million dollars and Russellville will function on a 7.7 million dollar budget. It is obvious from those numbers that the city has done an excellent job when compared to these other cities in revenue. My question is if Cullman has a budget twice the size of Hartselle why does Hartselle start police officers at $2.22/hour more than Cullman? Is that fair and appropriate?

Members of the Cullman police department have been asking for a change to the city of Cullman's pay scale for years. There is no separation between ranges and officers often turn down promotions because the pay ranges overlap and there is no incentive to take the promotion. When talking with council members they have been agreeable that changes need to be made to the pay scale but they never take any action. Members of the department were asked by the council to submit a proposal to the council that would bring officers pay more in line with the surrounding cities. Two proposals were submitted to the council that would cost the city approximately $200,000.00. The council has never responded to either of the proposals.

In closing, there have been numerous figures printed in The Cullman Times as being the raise officers have requested. None of these figures have been correct. Officers have yet to ask for any certain amount. We have provided the pay for surrounding cities and the amount the city has failed to pay in cost of living in the last six years. All we have ask the city is to do the right thing or in the words of Mayor Green what is fair and appropriate for one group of employees is fair for all. I would like to encourage the help of the public in holding Mayor Green to his own words.

Lt. Becky Boyd

Cullman Police Dept.

        

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