Beckley city workers' pay blows up

Aug. 4—Heated discussions among city of Beckley officials regarding increased pay for Beckley Police officers, which is thousands of dollars under the state average, have spilled into a broader conversation about the lack of pay for all Beckley employees.

During a Beckley Common Council meeting on July 25, an employee from Beckley's Public Works Department said some of the people in his department are so underpaid, they said, that they qualify for government assistance.

"There should not be any man or woman working a full-time job in the United States of America and be eligible" for government assistance, said Howard Cox, a supervisor in the city's public works department.

He went on to say that while no one in his department is against pay raises for police officers, the Public Works Department is also experiencing similar negative impacts due to low salaries.

"We have lost a number of talented employees due to retirement and better paying jobs," Cox said. "Some are even working two jobs to survive."

Another Public Works employee who spoke after Cox said he takes home just over $840 every two weeks, which most families would not be able to live off.

"Luckily, I'm single with no children; otherwise, there's just no way I would be able to do things," he said during the council meeting, which can now be streamed through the city of Beckley's website.

These remarks took place after council members voted to amend a proposed pay raise for Beckley Police officers from $2,500 to $8,000.

The amendment was approved, and the vote to have it take effect will come before the council at its regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

When asked Friday about his thoughts on the measure, Beckley Mayor Rob Rappold said he has recommended an alternative measure to council that would address salaries for both the police and Public Works.

Rappold said he emailed council members with the suggestion that they consider splitting the $8,000 pay increase between the two departments by giving police a $5,500 across-the-board increase and giving the remaining $2,500 to Public Works for merit salary increases.

"If (Public Works) has 40 employees at $2,500, that gives them in the neighborhood of $100,000 to use at their discretion to award merit increases to Public Works employees who would deserve those," he said.

Rappold said he also recommended that, should council choose to follow his plan, they could revisit additional raises at the end of the year.

"As mayor, I have, in my opinion, I have an obligation for, number one, for financial stability and number two, very closely, I have an obligation to all the departments," he said. "Not only police in this case, but also Public Works, the fire department, IT, Parks and Recreation — the major departments and of course the employees at city hall. So, to me, I'm not doing my job if I don't at least offer an option for one department, that in my opinion, deserves to be looked at."

As of Friday evening, Rappold said he had not received any responses from council members on his proposal.

During a previous council meeting, four council members expressed support for an $8,000 annual increase for police, which would be the minimum number of favorable votes necessary to pass the measure should all seven council members be present.

Beckley's mayor will only vote in the event of a tie.

The starting salary for Beckley Police officers is $42,530.

The starting salary for the West Virginia State Police is $55,000 while the Raleigh County Sheriff's Office starts deputies at between $48,870-$50,670.

If the $8,000 police increase is approved, the measure will cost the city $470,000 annually, Jessica Chandler, the city's controller, said at a July council meeting. As the city's controller, Chandler is responsible for providing support to the city's recorder-treasurer by providing analysis, recommendations, oversight, implementation and leadership on financial management and operation issues for the city of Beckley.

"This is just salaries plus workers' comp and Medicare," said Chandler, referring to the impact the $8,000 pay increase for police officers would have on the city's budget. "Doesn't factor in the pensions and all the changes that would be there."

Should the city look to increase the salaries of all city employees by anywhere between $2,500 to $8,000, Chandler said the cost to the city would be from about $700,000 to $1.1 million.

"Those are some big numbers to swallow," she said.

She added that her recommendation would be to give a $2,500 annual salary increase to all city employees to start and then come back in six months to see if the city can afford more increases.

"Much like our predecessors didn't leave us in a good spot with pay citywide, this is a problem we've all inherited and that we're all going to have to resolve together," Chandler said. "If we do one big pay raise for one department, we have to cut from all the other departments in order to make this happen."

In response, Beckley Police Chief Dean Bailey said he had already submitted proposed cuts to his budget that would cover the cost of raises within the department without making cuts to other departments.

Beckley City Recorder Billie Trump said Bailey had proposed covering most of the increased salaries through attrition, which would mean not hiring officers when retirements take place.

Chandler also noted that the city has $4 million in carryover, which is enough to fund the city's payroll and general operations from 60 to 90 days.

"This is our savings in case we have a crisis," she said. "It's our only savings accounts we have, and when you're operating a $47 million entity, you have to have some sort of savings to fall back on. Especially when you have 255 employees that are relying on a paycheck. So that is what that money is set aside for."

In an interview with The Register-Herald on Friday, Beckley Councilperson Robert Dunlap reiterated comments he made at the last council meeting that he considers current pay a citywide crisis that would warrant the use of funds that have been set aside.

"I believe the majority of city council understand that we have to correct this disparity for the police first and then we also need to address the disparity that may have been inadvertently created over the last 20 years of governance, for the other departments, when they have underpaid employees so that we can also retain and keep quality people in our city," Dunlap said.

He added that he and other members of council were shocked to hear that some full-time city employees were also on public assistance.

"Our community, they see us making capital investments in real estate options like the Beckley Police Department ... the Number 3 (Beckley) Fire Department station. They see the country club being purchased, the Zen's café being bought, the building that houses WVVA. They see us as buying real estate and they feel as if, how is that acceptable if simultaneously we have employees that are living in poverty," Dunlap said. "I think reasonable minds will connect and the people who we were supposed to be representing are going to have their say through our votes."

When asked if the city would still be able to give raises to Public Works and other city employees should council approve the $8,000 raise for police, Rappold said, "It would be my hope that we could, and I would certainly recommend that."

Email: jmoore@register-herald.com