Portsmouth public safety officers may get salary raise

PORTSMOUTH

The city's police officers and firefighters may finally see their salaries become more competitive with the wages of public safety workers in nearby localities.

The City Council has convened a special meeting Tuesday to vote on a retention plan for Portsmouth's sworn public safety officers, who have complained for years about low pay.

"We are playing catch-up for something that's been talked about for literally a decade," Councilwoman Elizabeth Psimas said.

Portsmouth leaders hope to allocate about $2.3 million in the upcoming budget year to bring public safety pay up to the regional average, based on results of a recent study the city commissioned of police and fire salaries from Williamsburg to Virginia Beach.

"We're all surprised the cost was less than anticipated," Vice Mayor Bill Moody Jr. said, noting that the city has a budget of about $560 million. "The community has certainly wanted us to do this for a while."

Portsmouth has 260 sworn police positions, 31 of which are open, according to department records. The fire department has 236 sworn positions, six of which are vacant, department spokesman Capt. Paul Hoyle said.

"We've been a revolving door, and we've been a training ground," Jim Swan, president of Portsmouth's Fraternal Order of Police, said.

Psimas said the salary adjustment won't significantly increase the pay for newly hired public safety officers. However, she said, some more experienced officers could see an increase of 10 percent, or thousands of dollars.

"And those are the folks, quite frankly, we want to keep," she said.

Earlier this year, the Fraternal Order of Police took out radio ads and billboards describing Portsmouth's police officers as the lowest-paid in the region. In May, supporters for higher police pay marched outside City Hall with signs.

The council has been discussing the need to address public safety retention for the past few years, Councilman Doug Smith said.

According to the proposal, the new pay plan would begin next year on July 1. A fter Jan. 1, the city also would pay more than $113,000 to address the salaries of sworn supervisory police and firefighters, City Manager Kenneth Chandler said.

Under the plan, firefighters and police officers would be paid based on years of service, Chandler said. Currently an officer who is promoted to lieutenant can make more than a lieutenant who has held the position for years, Psimas said.

Also, Portsmouth's public safety officers would finally have some idea of what their salaries might be five or 10 years down the road, Swan said.

The city pays about $50,000 each to pay, train and equip starting police and firefighters, Chandler said. Portsmouth loses that investment when public safety workers, generally after they've worked for the city for one to three years, move on to other cities for higher pay, he said.

Because they are members of the Virginia Retirement System, their benefits are portable to other cities such as Chesapeake and Virginia Beach, he said.

As a result, Portsmouth has a lower number of officers and firefighters with four to 10 years of service, Chandler said.

If adopted, the city's proposed pay plan would slow down the departure of public safety officers, Swan said.

"I've already talked to a few people who have said, 'I'm going to wait until July and see what happens,' " Swan said.

So will city leaders see more billboards from the Fraternal Order of Police anytime soon?

"I won't say no," Swan said. "If everything follows through, there will be a billboard, but it won't be bad. It will be a thank you."

Staff writer Matthew Bowers contributed to this report.

Jen McCaffery, (757) 446-2627, jen.mccaffery@pilotonline.com