As a Beckley Police sergeant with nearly two decades of experience, Jamie Blume said his salary is less than a West Virginia State Trooper cadet training at the state police academy.
“The irony is that I’ve taught at the police academy and if I were to return to instruct, I would literally be making less money than the people sitting in the chairs that I’m instructing,” said Blume during a Beckley Common Council meeting Tuesday evening.
Starting salary for the West Virginia State Police is $55,000, according to an article by MetroNews. The starting salary for troopers after completing training at the State Police Academy was formerly $45,000 but was increased by $10,000 in 2022 by the state Legislature.
The starting salary for Beckley Police officers is $42,530.
Blume was one of more than 20 Beckley Police officers in attendance at the council meeting Tuesday where council members were expected to vote on a $2,500 pay increase for all sworn Beckley Police officers.
However, instead of voting on the measure, several council members proposed that the figure be amended to reflex an $8,000 raise for all officers.
“I think that, that is a competitive increase in light of what we’ve seen as for crime,” said Beckley Councilman Robert Dunlap who was the first to propose the $8,000 pay increase.
“. . . and yes, we have provided great facilities, great firearms, and we’ve got great people. We need to keep our great people.”
If the starting salary for Beckley Police officers were to be increased by $8,000, it would line them up with the state average, according to a WVVA article.
It would also make the city more competitive with local law enforcement agencies including the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office, which starts deputies at between $48,870-$50,670, according to a recent recruitment flyer.
Officers with Oak Hill and Fayetteville also start at about $50,000.
While Dunlap’s proposal had the vocal support of three other council members, Beckley City Attorney Bill File said council members could not simply vote to amend the proposed $2,500 salary increase to $8,000 because it would constitute a “material change”
“I don’t think this council, at this stage tonight, is in a position to act on that,” File said. “I think it will require tabling the matter and bringing it back for another meeting. At which time it should be appropriately stated on the agenda as to what council is going to vote on.”
As a result, council members voted to table a salary increase for city police for a future council meeting that was unspecified.
In remarks made by Beckley Mayor Rob Rappold before Dunlap’s proposal, Rappold said that if other city employees were to be presented with the $2,500 pay increase being proposed for police, “these people would think they had died and gone to heaven.”
In his four-minute remarks, Rappold also pointed out that the city had given all city employees bonuses to the tune of roughly $8,000 over the past two years using American Rescue Plan Act funding and other city funds.
“I just bring that up to say that it’s not the city against the police department,” Rappold said. “We love and value what you do.”
He later added that the city could not financially sustain a $8,000 increase for all of its police officers.
Beckley City Recorder Billie Trump said that amount would cost the city “at least half a million a year” as opposed to $200,000 which was the annual cost to the city for the $2,500 pay increase.
He added that the $8,000 increase would come with “significant repercussions.”
“There’s going to be some problems meeting the city’s pension obligation and several other things that are going to have to be put off,” Trump said.
After voting to table the pay raises, Dunlap asked whether the mayor could confirm that this amended pay raise measure would be on the next council agenda in two weeks.
“No, I’m not able to ensure that,” Rappold said. “. . . But we’ll do our best to keep it moving just like we have now.”
Rappold added that it would be best for the city and council members to have a workshop on the measure before any subsequent vote.
Beckley Police Cpl. Joseph Hunter said he considered the council’s decision to table and revisit the raise at a higher amount a win.
“It seems like almost all of (the council members) unanimously were in support of us,” Hunter said. “I’m extremely grateful for what they had to say, for the public comments that we did get. Seems like we have some people that have our backs.”
Hunter, who has been with the department for 10 years, also spoke during the meeting and listed the names of 11 officers who have left the Beckley Police Department for other law enforcement agencies in the past five years.
Hunter said three of the officers went to the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office, two went to the state police, two went to work in prisons, two are now federal employees, one works for the U.S. Marshal Service and the last went to an out-of-state agency.
He added that two of the officers who left had “over 10 years of service, of knowledge, experience and training provided by the city that they took with them when they left.”
Beckley Police Chief Dean Bailey confirmed with The Register-Herald that Hunter’s statements were true. When asked to comment on the proposed raises, Bailey said he would not comment until after the council had made a decision.
However, he did say that it costs the city upwards of $100,000 to train a new officer.
Hunter said the amount the city spends to train officers is yet another reason why the city should increase its pay to prevent them from seeking higher-paying jobs elsewhere.
“The core of the issue is our salary is so far behind comparable agencies in this area,” he said. “So, specifically, the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department. Officers that choose to leave, we don’t have to relocate. We don’t have to take a different position or job title. . . As soon as I walked through the door, I’m making significantly more money. So the money we spend training and equipping these officers ends up being wasted just training them for another agency.”
Beckley Council’s next regularly scheduled meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m., July 23, in council chambers at Beckley City Hall.
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.