Council refers proposed removal of police sergeant education incentive to next meeting after public comment

The Verona Common Council referred action on a proposed amendment to City Administrative Policy 4, Section 3 — a change that would eliminate a separate education incentive for police sergeants — to a future meeting after extended discussion and public comment.

Sergeant Matt Lovell addressed the council during public comment and said the staff recommendation to remove the incentive without a grandfather clause “feels retaliatory, quite frankly,” noting that the change could reduce sergeants’ pay over time. Lovell described how the incentive currently compounds after cost‑of‑living increases and said it could mean a substantially smaller take‑home amount over multiple years.

Council debate focused on implementation details from the compensation study, how sergeants would be placed in grades under the new pay structure, and whether other municipalities provide similar incentives. City staff said the compensation study places sergeants at the top of grade 11 and that the study assumed education was already accounted for in job scoring; staff also described the incentive levels used for represented officers (an 8% multiplier for a bachelor’s degree, a higher multiplier for master’s degrees and smaller percentages for other credit thresholds).

Alder Tucker Long moved to refer the proposed amendment to the next meeting for additional factual detail and comparability figures; the motion to refer passed 7‑1. Council members asked staff to provide comparative municipality data, the dollar impacts on current sergeants, and an assessment of broader ripple effects across city pay bands.

No change to the policy was enacted at this meeting; the item will return with requested fiscal comparisons and clarifying figures.