Tucson City employees will see bigger paychecks soon

[ad_1]

TUCSON, Arizona (KOLD News 13) – Tucson City employees will soon be receiving larger paychecks after the city council approved a $ 30 million investment in its workforce on Tuesday. The police will receive an additional $ 6 million and the fire department an increase of $ 4 million for the next fiscal year.

The city of Tucson looked at wages in other Arizona cities to find a market price. Police wages have been compared to Pima County, Oro Valley and Phoenix police wages. The city council found that 81 percent of city employees among the surrounding cities were paid.

“Outside police are coming and wooing our officers in the city of Tucson, and the investments we are making in academia and training our officers are lost,” said Tucson Mayor Regina Romero.

The Tucson Police Officers Association said the wage increase was an important step in the right direction.

“We were underpaid and overworked. Now that we’ve fixed the salary problem and can get more officers on board, preferably side officers. It will spread the work, ”said Officer Mike Gamez, vice president of the Tucson Police Officers Association.

Tucson Police Protective League vice president Nate Foster said more competitive pay will help keep officials, but said pay only goes so far.

“The people who left didn’t go for more money,” he said. “They left the country for a change of environment and felt more support from the politicians in that jurisdiction and the senior staff.”

The city council discussed how to keep pace with wage increases and the rising cost of living.

“Will I absolutely guarantee that we will not have any challenges in the future? I can not do this. But I can tell you we have a plan that will give us at least a 2.5 year buffer, ”said Michael Ortega, Tucson’s city manager.

He said this buffer gives time to make adjustments and better plan ahead. The city council hopes to start implementing the salary increases by early June.

Copyright 2021 KOLD News 13. All rights reserved.

[ad_2]