Laura Bond, Reporter
02-03-2009
City of Ruston police officers will be putting an extra $4,000 in their pockets each year.
The city’s aldermen approved a proposal Monday evening to increase officers’ starting pay from $25,632 to $30,000 and up the salary for more experienced police officers effective immediately.
“I think each of us has been able to go over this, and it’s a good plan,” alderman Elmore Mayfield said. “It’s going in the right direction.”
Despite tough economic times, the pay raise was necessary, said City Public Works Administrator Ed Pittman, who presented the proposal.
“I think in desperate times it’s more important than ever to have a quality police force,” he
said. “Ruston is progressive, and we like to be known as a leader.”
Pittman said the city appears to be in good financial shape to offer the raise, as city sales tax collections were up 10 percent in December from the year prior.
The pay increase proposal was designed to keep local officers’ salaries competitive with that of other north Louisiana police departments, which presumably will serve to attract more quality applicants and retain current employees. Ruston Police Chief Steve Rogers said although the office is budgeted for 50 employees, it only has only 44.
“We’ve experienced some retention problems and been three-five officers short for a
couple of years,” Rogers said. “If you can go to West Monroe and make (significantly more money), you’d have to consider it in this day and age because of hard economic times.”
Rogers said he is excited about the new pay plan and hopes it will motivate more college graduates to apply.
The proposal had been in the works for about six months as a team of police and city employees conducted a salary survey to compare Ruston Police Department to other police agencies in north Louisiana.
“The basic idea was to get starting pay up with peer cities,” said Pittman, who was part of the team. “We were in the bottom 25 percent in cities we surveyed, but this raise puts us in the top 25 percent.”
Pittman said among those police departments surveyed were Monroe, West Monroe, Bossier City, Shreveport, Alexandria, Pineville, Minden, Natchitoches, Ouachita Parish, Bossier Parish, Caddo Parish, Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Office and Louisiana Tech police.
In addition to the new starting pay, Pittman said Ruston police officers typically receive an annual 2 percent raise, and the state kicks in another $5,100 in supplemental pay for officers after one year of service.
The raise will be applicable to all RPD employees, with the exception of the police chief, whose pay is negotiated by the mayor and council separately.
To be hired as an officer with the RPD, an applicant must be 21 or older, possess a high school diploma and pass the civil service exam and a background check.
From there, they attend an 11-week police academy and train another 11 weeks with a senior officer to learn the ropes of Ruston law enforcement.
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