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Hopkinsville council approves shift pay and multiple stipends in employee compensation update
Summary
On second reading the Hopkinsville City Council approved Ordinance 18-2026 to add shift differential pay and a set of stipends — including cell phone, clothing, career enhancement and tool stipends — affecting police, public works and fire personnel.
Hopkinsville City Council voted on July 7 to approve Ordinance 18-2026, amending the city's employee classification and compensation plan to establish shift differential pay and a range of stipends for public safety and operations staff. The measure passed on its second reading by roll call.
The ordinance sets shift differential pay at $4 per hour for employees assigned to the 2nd and 3rd shifts. It also creates several stipends and career-enhancement incentives: a $20-per-month cell-phone stipend (subject to police chief approval) for certain police employees, a clothing stipend (listed in the ordinance as up to $6.50 annually) for public-safety employees to maintain uniforms, career-enhancement stipends of up to $4,000 annually for specified sworn and emergency personnel, and a $1,000 annual tool stipend for service-center staff and facility-maintenance specialists. The ordinance further authorizes EMS stipends and lateral-hire incentives as specified by department policy.
"City council hereby establishes shift differential pay for sworn employees of the police department, emergency communication center dispatchers, and public works employees assigned work during scheduled 2nd and 3rd shifts," the clerk read from the ordinance during the meeting. The ordinance text makes several stipends subject to department policy and municipal order approval where noted.
Council members did not debate the specifics at length during the vote. The ordinance includes a standard severability clause and states it will take effect after passage and publication according to law.
The change affects multiple city departments and is intended to improve recruitment and retention for off-shift and specialized positions; department policies will determine detailed eligibility and administration of several stipends.
