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Council approves short-term redistribution to raise police pay and add clerical support
Summary
Bertram council agreed to reallocate funding from an open patrol position to boost existing patrol pay and fund a shared clerical assistant, a short-term fix intended to improve retention while long-term budgeting is planned.
Bertram’s mayor and council moved on a short-term plan to reallocate money from an open patrol position to increase pay for current patrol officers and to fund a clerical assistant who would split time between the court and police departments.
"We believe that in order to maintain and attract the high quality police force, we need to bridge the gap between our salaries and our neighbors," the mayor said when presenting two funding options. He said the difference between the proposed $20–21 hourly clerical position and the budgeted $15-an-hour role is $10,400, and offered a plan to redistribute that amount across patrol staff to raise base pay to roughly $62,162.
Police Chief Randy described operational benefits of the clerical position, including faster video downloads and evidence handling that free officers for patrols. "By having Connie there, one thing that it will do for us is when we have to do video downloads, that stuff takes hours," Chief Randy said.
Council members debated whether the change should draw from reserves or be handled in the upcoming budget; one council member said the reallocation is a "quick fix for today" while the new budget will address ongoing funding. After a motion to adopt proposal 1 was made and seconded, the council proceeded with the change and directed staff to reflect longer-term adjustments during the next budget cycle.
Next steps: staff will implement the temporary redistribution immediately while administrators prepare budget adjustments for subsequent fiscal planning.
