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Portsmouth council approves compressed police pay scale to help retain officers
Summary
The Portsmouth City Council approved a memorandum of agreement compressing the police patrol pay scale from 18 steps to seven to make lateral hires more competitive and reduce overtime strain; council voted unanimously after staff and public comments about costs and charter procedure.
The Portsmouth City Council on Dec. 22 approved a memorandum of agreement with the Portsmouth Police Patrolmen’s Union that compresses the department’s existing 18-step pay scale into seven steps, shifting larger increases to the early years of service to make lateral hires and junior officers’ pay more competitive.
Deputy City Manager Carl Weber told the council the change is aimed at reducing costly turnover and mandatory overtime. “We surveyed surrounding departments,” Weber said, “and they’ve adopted a similar strategy. The market around us is changing significantly for police officers, and the city was particularly vulnerable when it…
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