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Burleson staff lays out three compensation packages; council urges higher public-safety pay
Summary
Human-resources director Cheryl Marthal Johnny presented three pay/step options for FY2026—Plan A maintains current steps (3% average), Plan B adds targeted market adjustments (avg ~4%), Plan C is a larger market adjustment (avg ~6.6%)—and council discussed prioritizing police and fire increases while acknowledging tax-rate and budget tradeoffs.
Director of Human Resources Cheryl Marthal Johnny presented the city’s compensation strategy and three options for FY2026 that differ in market adjustments and step plan changes.
Plan A would continue the existing step plan and average a 3% pay increase. Plan B would apply the 3% step plus targeted market adjustments and step-range changes for certain police and fire ranks (Pol sergeants; fire lieutenant/captain), resulting in an average pay increase staff estimated at about 4% and a general-fund impact on the order of several hundred thousand dollars beyond Plan A. Plan C is a more aggressive market-adjustment package with a larger annual cost; staff estimated Plan C would add roughly $1.28 million beyond Plan A when combined with the step increase.
Cheryl presented benchmarking that showed Burleson generally sits near the middle of comparator cities on sworn-officer pay and noted the budget impacts of each option: staff said the step/merit (Plan A) cost was already included in the proposed budget; Plan B would add an incremental general-fund impact and Plan C would require additional budget capacity, likely necessitating a tax-rate adjustment.
Council members pressed for prioritizing police and fire pay increases; one councilor urged embracing a tax increase to fund larger public-safety raises. City management and staff said they would review funding options with the finance committee and bring back a recommendation. No final pay option was adopted at the June 16 meeting; council asked for further analysis and finance-committee review.
