Proctor council approves 5% police pay adjustment, asks for citywide wage study before broader raises

The Proctor City Council on Aug. 5 approved a 5% midterm market-rate adjustment for the police department after a wage-study task force found the department paid below the 50th percentile.

The measure was presented to the council during the consent and new-business discussion and moved for approval. Finance Director Grunfeld and staff described the task-force recommendation and the percentile comparison that prompted the adjustment.

Several council members said they supported the police pay increase but objected to applying a step increase to a single department without reviewing citywide salary comparators. Councilor Johnson urged that Leslie or Finance staff prepare a full set of citywide numbers for the next budget meeting so the council could weigh impacts across departments and fit any changes into the budget.

Councilor Dwall and others said consistency was important; they asked staff to include comparable communities in the wage matrix and to consider proximity to tribal lands as a factor for comparability. Grunfeld acknowledged disparities in the task-force matrix and agreed to provide more detail.

Despite those concerns, councilors voted to approve the police midterm adjustment and instructed staff to bring comprehensive wage-study results and budget implications to the next budget meeting before further action.

The council did not set a timeline for a citywide implementation; members described the approved action as limited to the police-department adjustment pending broader budget review.