Wrangell’s borough assembly voted unanimously to raise non-union police department wages by $2 at a meeting earlier this month [10/21].
Borough Manager Mason Villarma said there’s been some noticeable disparities in some of the department’s lower-level positions, which include dispatch.
“We’re actually the lowest in the whole salary survey among municipalities for dispatch and corrections by a couple dollars,” he said. “So we want to at least get up to at least a lower-mid competitive range for dispatchers.”
The higher wages will cost the borough between $45,000 to $55,000 annually. Villarma said he thinks it’s the right thing to have a modest wage increase to match the market and retain competent staff. He said he can’t say the exact amount of overtime that’s been put in over the past year, but this wage increase will reflect the department’s efforts.
Mayor Patty Gilbert said she recently talked with Wrangell’s police chief, who puts in a lot of overtime hours.
“We have a working 24-hour on duty police chief,” she said. “He just happened to mention as an aside that he went on three calls in the middle of the night.”
The average cost of a police officer in the borough in the last budget cycle is $120,000, including benefits.
Most of the staff will be jumping up pay levels to match the pay increase. They include dispatch corrections moving from pay grade 14 to 16 and the police sergeant from grade 21 to 22.
The police officer position will remain in the same grade with an actual pay increase in that grade to $33.00-$41.85, depending on experience.
