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Committee advances ordinance to exempt critical public-safety hires from reduced starting pay

3289665 · May 13, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

The committee voted to send an ordinance to the full quorum court that would allow the county to exempt certain critical public-safety positions from a policy that reduces starting pay for uncertified hires to 85% of market rate. The sheriff told members the exemption is needed to remain competitive when recruiting deputies and jailers.

The Pulaski County Budget Committee voted to forward an ordinance (25I36) to the full quorum court with a due-pass recommendation that would create exemptions in the county personnel policy for critical public-safety positions so uncertified hires would not automatically be limited to 85% of the fair-market starting rate.

Why it matters: County officials said the current policy, which sets uncertified hires at 85% of the fair-market rate, yields a starting pay in some positions of about $44,000 and makes it difficult for the sheriff's office to compete with nearby agencies. The proposed exemption…

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