Presenter/Contact
Presenter
Jared Werner, Chief Financial Officer
Contact Info
(830) 221-4395 - jwerner@nbtexas.org
Subject Header
SUBJECT:
Title
Approval of the first reading of an ordinance amending Ordinance 2011-93, specifically Section IV, by eliminating assignment pay for Criminal Investigator-Detective assignment within the Police Department.
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BACKGROUND / RATIONALE:
In 2007, criminal investigation-detective (CID) assignment pay was established as a result of combining the existing ranks of detective and corporal. The Detective position had traditionally been a rank that existed between Corporal and Sergeant. Once all the detectives were consolidated into the Corporal rank, a criminal investigations division assignment pay was established to ensure that existing detectives did not see a decrease in take home pay.
Over the past ten years, as new step plans have been introduced and implemented, the CID assignment pay has resulted in several unintended consequences, such as difficulty in promotional interest for the rank of sergeant (the rank above corporal). This is mainly due to the fact that a corporal at the highest step in the range (max base salary plus assignment pay) earns more than the entry level salary or step for a sergeant.
During the FY 2017-18 Budget Development process, the City Manager’s Office, Finance Department, and Human Resources Department staff worked with the Police Department on developing a step plan that would allow for the CID assignment pay to be completely removed, ensuring that the existing employees that receive the assignment pay wouldn’t see a decrease in pay and that there was a true increase in take home pay for Corporals that promote to Sergeant.
The updated step plans developed accomplish the objectives described above. In FY 2017-18, 50 percent of the costs to implement the updates plans are included. Therefore, the authorized assignment pay in the Police Department was amended to consistently decrease the current CID assignment pay by 50 percent. In FY 2018-19, staff recommends following through with this strategy described above and removing the assignment pay completely.
Police Department Rank |
FY 2016-17 Assignment Pay |
FY 2017-18 Assignment Pay |
FY 2018-19 Assignment Pay |
Police Officer and Corporal |
$5,800 annually |
$2,900 annually |
N/A |
Sergeant and Lieutenant |
$4,800 annually |
$2,400 annually |
N/A |
ADDRESSES A NEED/ISSUE IN A CITY PLAN OR COUNCIL PRIORITY:
FISCAL IMPACT:
The funding to support the updated step plans and decreased assignment pay has been incorporated into the FY 2018-19 Adopted Budget. Therefore, sufficient funds are available to support the financial impact from amending the attached ordinance.
Recommendation
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION:
N/A
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends approval of the amendment to the ordinance.