, Publisher
02-04-2009
Police officers were due a raise in the city of Ruston.
The city’s leadership has been wrangling with problems attracting and retaining officers for its civil service positions for years, and the strictest competition has come from metropolitan areas that could afford more in salaries and wages.
Never mind that the standard of living is typically higher in a place like Shreveport and Monroe, where fair market rents and the costs of goods and services tend to reflect those higher wages.
That reality does not change the lure of higher pay. Even though civil service carries the air of work for the good of the public at large, the state is not swooping in to completely care for these public servants. The municipalities are required to pay, and have to find the money to support the costs. Richer municipalities can pay more, and better workers typically want higher pay, regardless of what field they’re in.
An officer looking to raise a family or needing to support one cannot get by on the city’s previous pay, which was under $26,000. Now, they’re a bit higher, with $30,000 a much more attractive figure.
It gives family-oriented officers a bit more leeway in what they can afford and how they can choose to live their life in Ruston. It could be the difference between being able to afford to buy a house and grow wealth or continue to rent, for example.
It’s roughly 17 percent higher — a good raise no matter how you slice it, even in economically depressed times.
The recession does bring about a concern, however. Leadership pointed to higher sales tax figures from this December as a base that could support the raise, but sales tax figures, unlike ad valorem taxes, are subject to the winds of the economy. We have to express a little concern that no one knows what the future holds for our area in this recession, but we hope it is manageable in the future. Giving a raise you can’t afford can potentially be a bigger problem than the problems the lower wage generated in attracting officers.
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