Police chief, mayor say progress made on pay raise issue

Mayor Rodney Grogan and Police Chief Patrick LaSalle say they are working together to be able to give some police department employees pay raises, a topic LaSalle questioned the city council on at its most recent meeting.
LaSalle brought up the issue at the Sept. 2 council meeting at which Grogan was not present. This morning LaSalle said he believes he and the mayor are making “forward negotiations” regarding the proposed pay raises. “I do believe we have made some progress on the issue,” LaSalle said.
LaSalle is asking for 12 percent pay raises for all police department employees except those who have less than one year employment with the police department, he said.
The 2014-15 budget, passed in June, includes $875,440 for police department salaries compared to $807,040 in the city’s estimated amended 2013-14 budget. However, the city’s original 2013-14 budget had $870,279 set aside for police salaries.
In May, Grogan, LaSalle, City Clerk Pam Washington and City Accountant Reginald Weary met to look at the possibility of granting 12 percent pay raises, Grogan said.
From the time the 2014-15 fiscal year budget was presented to the council in May to the time the budget was approved by the council in June, officers were hired and that in turn would have caused a more than 5 percent budget variance if the 12 percent pay raises were awarded, Grogan said.
“It was understood at that time, when the numbers came in like that, in January we would revisit the budget,” Grogan said two weeks ago. Most officers were going to receive between a $4,000 and $6,000 raise with the proposed 12 percent pay increase, Grogan said.
However, the number of police department employees the city had in May has “dropped tremendously” compared to now Grogan said.
As of Thursday, based upon numbers Grogan and LaSalle discussed with no future hires, the city will be able to give a raise to those police department employees who have worked at the Patterson Police Department at least one year, Grogan said.
“Also, when we looked at the budget, no one ever really considered the chief’s salary that will jump up by $18,000 for next year,” Grogan said. If LaSalle is re-elected this year, he will enter his sixth term, and his salary will automatically increase from $66,000 to $84,000 as stated in a city ordinance, Grogan said.
City officials are trying to control the hiring process by putting a cap on the number of police department hires allowed, Grogan said. The mayor wants to ensure the city does not spend more on salaries than the budgeted $875,440 for 2014-15, he said.
The overall 2014-15 police department budget shows $1,788,261 in expenditures. The overall 2013-14 police department estimated amended budget totaled $1,763,116 while the originally passed 2013-14 budget showed $1,897,272 in expenditures.
According to documents Grogan provided The Daily Review via public records request, the police department has a total of 36 employees for 2014-15 compared total of 42 employees in 2013-14. Those numbers include part-time employees.