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Council reviews police compensation proposal, asks staff to model 13% market adjustment for budget
Summary
The police chief asked for market adjustments to better compete with nearby agencies; council asked staff to include a modeled 13% average market adjustment for budgeting and to return with comparisons and impacts on other city employees.
PERRY, Utah — Perry—s council and the police chief discussed a market‑based compensation request during the May 15 budget work session, focusing on how to retain officers amid higher pay at neighboring agencies.
Chief Hansi (police chief) and staff presented wage comparisons that the chief says show Perry officers working higher caseloads for lower pay relative to several nearby agencies (Box Elder County, Brigham City and Tremonton/Garland). The chief—s packet requested additional market adjustments to bring officers closer to those competing agencies; that adjustment would raise police wages an average of roughly 13% (some positions would require higher adjustments, others less) beyond the usual COLA/market/performance model used citywide.
Council members expressed broad support for competing for officers but also raised concerns about equity for other city staff. Several councilors and the mayor asked staff to show the budgetary effect of applying an average 13% market adjustment to all staff for planning purposes and to show alternatives (apply to police only; apply across the board; or different phased approaches). Council agreed to begin budget modeling using a 13% average adjustment for the police positions and to run comparisons showing where that leaves Perry relative to the Brigham/Box Elder market.
Council and staff discussed retention strategies in addition to pay: hiring more officers to reduce per‑officer caseload, work‑life balance, and recruiting newer academy graduates who can be trained locally. The chief said the department has relatively low turnover among senior staff but that market competition is a continuing risk and that hiring poor matches when desperate can be expensive and risky.
Staff tasks: finance staff were asked to include a 13% market model for the police budget and also to generate a cross‑department comparison showing the effect of that model if applied to all municipal employees. The council did not adopt any compensation schedule at the meeting; it directed staff to present numbers for the upcoming budget hearing and to include where the proposed adjustments would place Perry on regional pay tables.
Ending: Council asked staff to prepare comparative data for the Brigham/Box Elder market and to present final recommended compensation language for the public hearing packet.
