First responders in the city of Columbus could see a significant salary increase next year.
The city is proposing a 16.5% increase for police salaries and 13.9% increase for firefighters, said finance director Regina McIntyre.
Columbus City Council voted Tuesday to approve the first readings of 2024 salary ordinances for civilian employees, elected officials, and sworn personnel for police and fire.
Ordinances require two readings to be approved, and the council’s next meeting is set for Oct. 3.
Under the proposed ordinance, patrol officers would have a base salary of $70,000, with a maximum salary of $89,600. The ordinance includes 61 individuals under this title.
Bartholomew County Sheriff Chris Lane has likewise proposed a plan to raise base pay of starting deputies to $70,000.
According to former sheriff and current county councilman Mark Gorbett, state lawmakers gave Indiana State Police a substantial recruiting advantage after raising the annual pay for a probationary Indiana State Police trooper from $61,000 to $70,000.
“That doesn’t just affect the state police troopers, it also affects the gaming officers, the excise officers, DNR, all of those other related agencies — all of those officers are receiving a significant increase,” said McIntyre. “And the city and the county have agreed that they don’t want to — they want to do everything they can to avoid losing officers to the state or each other.”
She said that the city has been working with the county to avoid doing anything that they’re not.
The Columbus Fire Department faces similar challenges, she added, explaining that there are certain regional markets around Columbus that the city has lost firefighters to.
For firefighters, the proposed base salary is $66,031, with a maximum salary of $89,600. The salary ordinance includes 62 individuals under this title.
According to McIntyre, it is proposed that salaries for the city’s civilian employees may increase up to 5% in 2024, with discretion left up to department heads based on performance.
“All of our civilian non-sworn employees do receive performance evaluations, and we also have budget considerations in various departments,” said human resources director Arlette Cooper-Tinsley. “So raises could vary from anywhere from 0 to 5%, depending on the department head and where they are in the range and their performance assessment.”
Most employees are expected to receive a raise that covers at least a cost-of-living adjustment, she said. However, she noted that this may not be true for those who are still in training or not meeting competency levels. Every raise is approved by both the department head and human resources.
Under the proposed ordinance, the mayor’s salary for 2024 will be $113,764, which is a 5% increase over 2023.
Mayor Jim Lienhoop finishes out his second term at the end of 2023 and is not seeking reelection. The two candidates for mayor are Republican Mary Ferdon, the city’s executive director of community development and administration, and independent candidate Sean Burton.
All city council seats, as well as the position of city clerk, are also on the ballot for November.
City council salaries are only proposed to go up 3%, from $15,984 in 2023 to $16,464 in 2024. Additionally, the city is budgeting for nine members — as opposed to the current seven — due to the council’s decision to adopt second-class status for the city of Columbus, effective in 2024.
The change affects other positions as well. State code specifies that while third class cities elect a clerk-treasurer, second class cities elect a clerk. Both positions fill the role of city clerk; however, the clerk-treasurer also serves as the city’s fiscal officer. In a second class city, the fiscal officer is a city controller appointed by the mayor.
While the clerk-treasurer’s salary for 2023 is $89,848, the proposed clerk’s salary for 2024 is $75,600.
McIntyre is set to become the city controller in 2024, once the change in class becomes official.
In addition to providing for potential pay adjustments, the salary ordinance for employees includes other changes as well, said Cooper-Tinsley.
For instance, instead of having an executive director of administration and community development, the city will shift to having an executive director of administration and a separate executive director of community development.
The city is also eliminating the executive director of public works position, which is currently held by Dave Hayward. Hayward said in a previous interview that he plans to retire at the end of the year.
There will also be a director of security and risk instead of a director of finance, operations and risk, said Cooper-Tinsley.
She added that the only proposed additional positions involve NexusPark. This includes five full-time positions and four part-time.
