GREENFIELD — The Greenfield City Council will soon consider raises for its police officers and firefighters in hopes of combating retention issues.
Mayor Chuck Fewell said that he hoped to bring a proposal before the city council for approval sometime during the next month. Fewell said raising pay to a level commensurate with other, similarly-sized departments in Indiana is an important aspect of recruiting and retaining officers.
“We need to stop people from exiting,” Fewell said. “We train them; we want to keep them here.”
Over the past year, officials at both the Greenfield Police Department and the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department have complained that relatively low levels of pay for their officers make it hard for them to retain employees, who sometimes choose to go to a nearby, higher-paying department after the local agencies go to the time and expenses — typically in the thousands of dollars — to train them. Smaller municipal police forces in the county, including those in Fortville, McCordsville and New Palestine, have said they face the same issue.
At the GPD, new officers make $45,816 for the first year on the force. The pay jumps to $51,910 after three years. That’s less than departments in nearby Indianapolis, Fishers or Noblesville, for example.
Starting officers at the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department make $51,000, while those in Fishers make $54,291 in their first year.
GPD Chief Jeff Rasche said he doesn’t expect his department’s pay to rise to the level of compensation for officers in Fishers or Indianapolis — larger communities where officers are likely to face risky situations more often.
A raise at the department, however, is “much needed,” said Rasche, who is retiring this week.
At the Greenfield Fire Territory, probationary firefighters make about $49,556 per year, with a salary increase to $52,494 in their first full year. Pay is higher for those certified as paramedics and raises are offered for longevity and increases in rank, but it’s less than firefighters can make elsewhere in the county: At the Sugar Creek Township Fire Department, starting pay is about $61,000 per year.
Like the police department, the fire territory has also had issues with retention. A study consultants conducted of the department in 2020 found that most employees leave before retirement, and about half of those are leaving to work for other fire departments.
Fewell said he has consulted with a number of city officials in deciding what the pay raise should look like, including the chiefs of the fire and police departments, the clerk-treasurer and the human resources director. It’s important, he said, to ensure that any raise the city offers is sustainable in future years, rather than something that might have immediate benefits but negatively impact the city’s finances later.
If Greenfield increases its pay for police and fire personnel, the county might see raises in other departments as well. At the most recent meeting of the Hancock County Commissioners, Sheriff Brad Burkhart asked the commissioners for an immediate raise for his deputies. The county created a committee to consider the issue earlier this year but hasn’t taken action.
One of the reasons Burkhart cited for the immediacy of a pay raise was the need to compete with the GPD, which he said might outpace the sheriff’s department in pay if a raise is approved.
At the sheriff’s department, the starting salary for probationary deputies is $47,975, and the pay increases to $49,775 during the first full year.