Salary and staff turnover are two of the topics on the agenda for the Scottsdale City Council on Wednesday evening. They will meet to hear about how these issues are affecting the Scottsdale Police Department.
Scottsdale police officers are asking the city council to come up with a permanent pay plan. Each year the council has to approve a raise for police officers, while most other valley departments have a permanent pay structure in place to ensure officers progress through salary ranges.
“Just a permanent pay plan going forward would not fix the problem immediately. A one-time fix...if we were to pay officers compared to other agencies this year would not fix the problem going forward. So it’s a two-step problem we are looking to solve," said Scottsdale Fraternal Order of Police President Ryan McKinnon.
There is a disparity between what experienced officers in Scottsdale are making compared to other Valley departments. As outlined in the city manager’s report, the average pay for an eight-year veteran of the Scottsdale department is equal to the pay of officers who have been with other Valley departments for half the time.
Brent Stockwell with City Manager’s office, said the city recognizes how low pay has caused problems.
“The hard thing with this and a lot of budget issues is these are really expensive issues. With 334 police officers currently, even a small increase multiplies and it becomes very expensive," he said. "There’s a lot of issues facing the city right now. And they all cost money."
According to the City Manager’s report, Scottsdale is losing officers at a rate more than double other Valley departments. In 2014, the department lost 10 officers to other Valley law enforcement agencies. The City Council will discuss possible changes to the salary structure of the police department.