Asheville considers career-ladders for police and fire and 1.5%–3% citywide raises; staff to return April 8 with firm numbers

City finance and human-resources staff presented council members with multiple compensation scenarios on March 25, including proposals to replace step-based pay plans in both the Asheville Police Department and Asheville Fire Department with career-ladder structures and three alternative citywide pay scenarios for general employees.

Finance Director Tony McDowell said compensation and benefits make up roughly 64% of the city’s general fund and so any change would have a substantial budget impact. “compensation and benefits ... makes up about 64% of our general fund budget,” McDowell said.

Public safety: moving from step plans to career ladders

McDowell told council both police and fire have used step-based pay plans since the early 2000s and staff want to move to career-ladder structures that emphasize training, retention and clearer progression. He said the Police Department’s proposed move would require compression adjustments concentrated in mid-rank positions and estimated the average increase across the APD pay plan would be roughly 7%. APD’s proposed compression adjustments would cost “a little over a million dollars,” McDowell said; APD staff…