Albany City Commission approves pay increase for most police officers
Bo Dorough
File Photo: Carlton FletcherBy Alan Mauldin
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ALBANY — A pay raise for Albany Police Department officers won narrow approval on Tuesday on a 4-3 Albany City Commission vote to boost salaries by 5% for most personnel.
The pay raise will go into effect on Feb. 1 and will cover all Georgia POST (Peace Officer Standard and Training) Council-certified officers of ranks captain and below.
Commissioners Vilnis Gaines, Jalen Johnson, Bob Langstaff and Chad Warbington voted in favor of the resolution to amend the 2022-2023 budget to cover the pay raises.
The pay increase will add $272,000 to the city’s budget for the remainder of the fiscal year that ends in June, said Warbington, who proposed the pay hike. The measure is intended to aid in recruiting new officers and keeping current officers working in the city.
“The only way we can do that is to pay them more,” Warbington said during a Wednesday phone interview. “I want our police department to be the highest-paid agency in southwest Georgia. That was the reason I initiated it.
“Public safety is the No. 1 thing, the No. 1 on phone calls I get. Public safety is the top issue.”
The department has been chronically understaffed for several years, and the issue is a national one as well as a local one, Warbington said. Other cities also have boosted pay, so in order to remain ahead, the action was necessary.
The commission also is looking into bringing a full-time recruiter on board, but no decision has been made on whether that will be an individual or a private consultant, Warbington said.
Although he is in favor of increasing police pay next year, Mayor Bo Dorough said he did think the timing was right.
“I don’t think it was appropriate to increase salaries for one department in the middle of the fiscal year, and we’ve increased police officer salaries four or five times in the three years I’ve been in office,” Dorough said
The city also faces a shortage in other positions, most notably bus drivers, diesel mechanics and electrical line workers, said the mayor, who was joined in voting against the budget resolution by Commissioners Jon Howard and Demetrius Young.
The latest retention figures show that of the officers certified and hired by the department over four years, 65% were no longer on the force, the mayor said.
“Certainly we’re going to look at salaries for the next fiscal year,” he said. “I think everybody on the commission is committed that no police department in southwest Georgia is going to pay more.”
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