City Council Approves Salary Increases for SAPD

SAN ANGELO, TEXAS – After over on hour of debate, the city council members approved to give San Angelo police officers their long awaited pay raise.

Last week, the San Angelo Coalition of Police and members of the City met to discuss the possibility of paying officers a one-time lump sum pay for the months of April-September. However, after a two-day voting period, San Angelo officers declined the City’s offer, read more on their decision here.  Due to the officers' choice to decline the lump sum monies, the City convened today to discuss monetary options.

In a short Sales Tax revenue presentation, Tina Dierschke, San Angelo’s Finance Director, explained that to date, the city of San Angelo is down 4.4 percent in sales tax as compared to the prior month. Furthermore, the City is currently under budget for revenue by $488,000.

While the City is stuck for the 24^th month in a downward sales tax revenue trend, many surrounding cities are enjoying increasing sales tax revenues. Daniel Valenzuela, city manager, explained that should the City continue on this downward trend, it will be about one million dollars below the estimated budget revenue.

Despite the City’s tight budget, council members voted to give police officers pay raises.

Councilman Lane Carter, representative for District 5, began the discussion by stating, “A contract is only as good as the people signing it. [The officers] met their requirements; now it’s time to meet ours.” Carter then moved to award the $342,819, initially allotted for police officers' lump sums to go towards police salaries, while the remaining money will be given to other city employees as stipends.

Lisa Marley, Director of Human Resources, added that the $342,819 would be doubled in October.

However, the Mayor did not necessarily agree with Carter. The mayor spoke to the crowded room and said, “I thought the stipend was a perfect idea. We have 24 months in a downward sales tax, and to add $350,000 dollars to the budget [and] $700,000 in October, that is a lot of money.” He continued to question where the new council will find the money to fund the salary increase should the “economy continue to go south.”

Below is a list of the current average salaries for various positions in the police department, fire department, and average city employee:

Below is a list of pay increases given to city employees since the year 2011:

TOTAL: 29.85% -  increase in salaries the City has given over the years.

Doug Thomas, president of SACOP, also spoke to the council, and noted that due to the low-income wages, the police department has suffered from retention problems. In the past year, the police department has hired an estimated 150 officers. Furthermore, Thomas recalled during a two-year time span a few years ago, an estimated 10 homicides took place due to the lack of police presence in town.

Several police officers, spouses of police officers, and concerned residents took to the podium to give their public statements. Many of them voiced their concerns that the safety of both the police officers and residents of San Angelo are at risk should there be no increase. Many also thanked the police officers for their service, and pleaded with the council to recognize their hard work.

Above: San Angelo LIVE's live stream of today's city council meeting discussion on salary increases for police officers. 

In the end, the City voted on Lane Carter’s motion to give police officers raises. The motion was approved in a 5-0 vote.

This vote finalizes the first step in getting the community's police officers their raises. Next Monday, the City will convene with their legal team to discuss the legalities behind the ordinance that will need to be drafted to finalize the pay raise.

The next city council meeting is scheduled for April 4 at 8:30 a.m. at the McNease Convention Center. As always, these meetings are free and open to the public.