Petal officials are looking into ways to raise the wages of employees in the Petal Police Department – and perhaps throughout the city – following Police Chief Matthew Hiatt’s request of that measure back in October.
Hiatt came to Tuesday’s meeting of the Petal Board of Aldermen to inquire whether any progress had been made in the matter, with Mayor Hal Marx and aldermen saying they are all in support of the police department and have discussed a few possible ways to make the pay raise happen.
“We have begun discussions on a preliminary outline of possibly going to the Legislature and having them allow the citizens of Petal to vote on a special sales tax option,” Marx said. “We’re still discussing about how we word that, and what the money would actually go to.
“But I do know that if it were to pass, it would possibly free up some money in the budget that already goes to certain things that might need to be diverted to help pay for some of those raises. So we are looking at an alternative funding measure for that.”
Ward 3 Aldermen Clint Moore said police and fire pay are matters of great importance to the city, and aldermen are trying to find ways to be creative to get extra funding.
“We’re looking at all possible solutions,” he said. “We started looking at the budget for next year earlier than any other year we’ve been here, so that’s been awesome.”
Hiatt initially approached the board about the matter in early October, when he said that many cities in Mississippi with populations similar to Petal’s are paying their officers at a higher rate than Petal. Currently, Hiatt makes $52,500 annually, and officers average an annual salary of $37,395.
Hiatt’s new pay scale would be $67,000 for chief, $60,000 for assistant chief, $54,000 for captain, $50,000 for lieutenant, $45,000 for officer, $40,000 for patrol officer, $41,025 for motorcycle officer, $34,875 for dispatcher and $36,814 for administrative assistant.
In comparison, Holly Springs (population 8,014) pays $61,555 to the chief and $31,200 average to officers; Byram (population 11,545) pays $76,400 to its chief and $30,000 average to its officers; D’Iberville (population 11,426) pays $80,538 to its chief and $34,201 average to its officers; and Cleveland (population 11,279) pays $80,330 to its chief and $34,561 average to its officers.
“I think everyone in this room supports law enforcement, and I think this city does,” Hiatt said at the October meeting. “But officers wonder why they do this for $36,000 a year, or why does the chief of the police have this burden of responsibility for $52,500 a year?
“So I want to give you guys some hard facts and some things to start considering today. I feel strongly that some revisions need to take place to make things appropriate.”
Hiatt’s proposal would require an additional $168,800 in salaries to the department’s budget. That number includes $127,000 for base salaries, $22,100 for state retirement, $9,700 for FICA, $7,000 for workman’s compensation and $3,000 for holiday pay.
The chief also proposed re-introducing longevity pay to the department and the city, depending on the number of service years employees have. Under that proposal, employees with 5-10 years of service would receive a 2 percent increase to pay; 10-15 years of service would see an increase of 3 percent, 15-20 years would see a 4 percent raise, 20-25 years would get a 5 percent increase, and 25 years or more would warrant a 6 percent increase.
“There are ways to show your appreciation as a government agency, and I think this is one of them,” Hiatt said. “This is just me putting some numbers together, but in my mind and in research I’ve done, these are legitimate numbers that would fall in place.”
