Part-time Royston Police Officers to Get Raise

The Royston Police Department is looking to fill four full-time positions and as their search for new officers continues, the department is using part-time officers to fill in where needed.

But finding part-time officers is also becoming a challenge due to a lower than average pay scale.  However, that is about to change.

At their city council meeting Tuesday evening, councilmen voted to raise the hourly wage for part-time officers to $16 from $15.

The move came after Mayor Keith Turman attended a presentation by Police Chief Donnie Boleman and officer Brooks Morehead.

“I don’t think Royston is exempt from being able to retain police officers within the department. I met with Chief Boleman and officer Moorehead and they put a great presentation together as to what they would like to do going forward. One of the things that got me is that we have part-time positions because we have a lot of vacancies in the department but it’s hard to get part-timers to come and fill these positions when we’re only offering $15/hr. So after meeting with the committee, it’s my recommendation that we move that from a part-time salary of $15 to $16/hr,” Turman said.

Moorehead told the City Council the average part-time salary for a police officer in surrounding communities is over $2 more an hour than what Royston pays.

“Based on my study the median part-time is $17.50/hr,” he said. “I think we’re in the midst of building an overall business plan here and Mayor Turman wisely came out with the suggestion of starting a little lower than that simply because that would put our part-time officers above our full-time officers and it may create some turmoil in this process. So, right now I think we’re all in agreement to ask for $16 on this basis until we can move everybody else to where they need to be.”

Moorehead said the increase to $16 is the first step in an overall plan to bring the Police Department’s full and part-time salaries and benefits up to par with neighboring municipalities.

Mayor Turman added that it’s not just the Police Department salaries that need to be upgraded but the council needs to begin looking at improving the salary structure and benefits for all city employees.

“That’s another thing I think we’re going to have to do as a City. Right now, we have a pay scale that we’ve got to look at. The pay scale lasts 15 years and if we have a 20-year employee, then they’ve outlived the pay scale. So, we need to do look at the pay scale that’s going to have a career employee come here, whether it’s the Police Department, City Hall, the Water Department, or the Gas Department. We just want to make sure that we have a pay scale that’s going to be comparable for somebody to stay here 20-25 years. At least they would know what they could make if they stay here. Once you max out at 15 years it puts us in a bind to retain the current force or recruit new,” Turman explained.

After hearing from the Mayor and Captain Moorehead, the Council voted unanimously to raise the part-time salary to $16 an hour.

Chief Boleman thanked the Council for approving their request. Currently, the Department is advertising for four new full-time police officers.