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Staff recommends raising starting pay for public safety officers; council seeks study results
Summary
City staff recommended adjusting the public safety pay schedule to improve recruitment — including deleting steps 1–2 and increasing starting pay from $44,075 to $46,779 — and said the changes could be paid from vacancy savings while a comprehensive McGrath compensation study is completed.
City staff presented a proposed revision to the public safety pay schedule at the April 27 Mexico City Council meeting, saying the change is aimed at improving recruitment and retention amid nine current vacancies in public safety positions (about a 26% vacancy rate).
Staff recommended eliminating the existing steps 1 and 2, renumbering subsequent steps, and adding higher steps so that steps 10 and 11 would be 2% above the immediately preceding step. The staff presentation stated a new starting annual salary for public safety officers would increase from $44,075 to $46,779 under the proposed schedule. Staff said all employees would remain at their current pay grade but would receive adjusted step rates according to the new schedule.
The presentation stressed that the city had hired McGrath Human Resources to do a competitive pay-and-benefit study; staff recommended waiting for the study’s full results to make any broader compensation changes. Staff also said that if council concurred, some pay adjustments could be implemented within payroll cycles and that funding for adjustments during the current fiscal year could come from savings tied to current vacancies (staff reported the budget contains vacancy savings large enough to avoid a budget amendment for these changes).
Council members asked procedural questions about how steps are moved (typically by seniority and annually) and whether the proposed increase would make the city competitive with neighboring communities. Staff cited several nearby cities and described how differing benefit and retirement contributions affect total compensation comparisons.
No formal ordinance or ordinance number was introduced to change the pay schedule in the meeting transcript; the record shows a staff recommendation and council questions but does not include a final recorded vote on the pay-schedule change.
