Committee weighs ordinance tying police chief pay to captains, discusses fire chief and benefits parity

The Administrative Services Committee on April 28 reviewed draft amendments to Chapter 131 that would change how the city sets minimum base pay for the police chief and for fire department chief positions and would extend certain bargaining-unit benefits to those administrators.

Committee members discussed a proposed addition to Chapter 131 to tie the police chief’s minimum base pay to 13% above the captain base pay, using the salary differential contained in the collective bargaining agreement between the city and the Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. The chair asked that the ordinance be drafted to allow the change to be retroactive to April 1 of the previous year, the effective date of the police union contract, to address a situation in which the police chief’s base pay had fallen below the captains he supervises.

The committee then considered a companion amendment to add a section setting minimum base pay for the fire chief and assistant fire chief. Members discussed several percentage options: mirroring the 14% differentials used in the fire rank structure, or increasing that to the mid-teens (16–18%) so that the fire chief’s base would better align with consultant (Archer) salary recommendations. During the discussion committee members cited the following figures from the meeting record: a current battalion chief base of $117,346; a 14% increase over that figure would be $133,774; Archer’s recommended salary figures referenced in the meeting were approximately $125,660 for the fire chief and $135,540 for the police chief. Committee members asked the finance department to calculate the budgetary impact of any percentage chosen.

Members also reviewed a proposed Section 131.27 to provide that the police chief and the fire chief and assistant fire chief would be entitled to the same benefits they would have as union members (including longevity pay, health and fitness bonus, uniform allowance, and sick-leave buyout provisions) going forward. The committee noted that benefits parity would apply prospectively and that making benefit payouts retroactive would be administratively difficult; members emphasized the importance of tying administrator pay and benefits to the appropriate rank so that pay inequities do not recur after contract increases.

The committee asked the law department to review the draft language; members then voted to advance the set of draft ordinances — including the police-chief pay provision, the fire-chief pay provision and the benefits parity provision — to full council once the law department completes its review. The committee directed staff to obtain finance-department estimates of the fiscal impact and to return with recommended numeric percentages and final ordinance language for council consideration.