Kokomo's proposed 2023 includes more firefighters, 2% pay raise

Aug. 25—The city of Kokomo's 2023 budget includes a 2% pay raise for non-contractual employees and elected officials, includes three additional firefighters and keeps the budgeted number of police officers the same as 2022.

The city's 2023 general fund is increasing by about $1 million next year to $49.2 million, according to City Controller Wes Reed, with the 2% pay raises making up the majority of that increase at a cost of more than $600,000.

Of the $49 million in the general fund, the police and fire departments make up more than half of that at more than $25.8 million. Overall, the city's 2023 proposed budget is $79,452,693.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, The Kokomo City Council held its workshop sessions for the 2023 budget, sitting down with all city department heads to go over their proposed budgets and asking any questions the council had.

The council will hold its first reading on the proposed budget Monday, with a public hearing Sept. 12 and a final reading and final vote Sept. 26.

Here are the main takeaways from the city's 2023 budget:

Fire Department

Currently budgeted for 89 firefighters, the proposed 2023 budget accounts for 92 firefighters for the Kokomo Fire Department.

That number is lower than the 96 a city-commissioned study by Crowe LLP found the city needs to have to be comparable in staffing levels when put side-by-side to similar sized cities, such as Columbus and Anderson.

The 92 number puts the city at eight more firefighters than what KFD had in 2019, the last year of the previous Greg Goodnight administration.

Kokomo Fire Chief Chris Frazier told the council Wednesday he doesn't believe the department will have any trouble filling the three new positions next year as they project having 15-18 "pretty good recruits" to pull from the applicant pool.

"Absolutely," Frazier said "We have a really good recruiting pool right now."

Frazier added that of those three new hires, one will be used as a building inspector and the other two as firefighters.

The fire department will need as many good recruits as possible because it will be dealing with a number of retirements over the next two years. For next year, Frazier said there are two known retirements with a possible third. In 2024, KFD has six known retirements happening. In addition, Frazier said there are three on staff who can retire any day.

Police Department

The goal of KPD for 2023 is the same as it was in 2021 and 2022, Police Chief Doug Stout said: hire more police officers.

The city has 89 officers currently, though Stout said there is one known retirement happening in January of next year and three known retirements happening in the first quarter of 2024.

The city's proposed 2023 budget calls for 92 officers. That's the same as in 2022 and 2021, though KPD hopes to go above that with the help of the COPS Grant, Stout said Tuesday.

The city was awarded the COPS grant in 2020 and can use it to help subsidize up to 75% of the cost of salary and benefits of up to 10 entry level officer for three years. The grant requires recipients to cover the full cost of salary and benefits for all the new hires through the grant for at least a fourth year.

Right now, Stout said the department has not utilized the grant and has until July 2023 to begin doing so.

"In a worst case scenario where we're not able to tap into it (COPS grant), we're still in a position where we can file for an extension," Stout said.

Stout said his goal this year is to hire at least three additional officers to get the department up to its budgeted 92 officers as the COPS grant can't be utilized until the department's full budgeted amount for officers is used.

In all, KPD's total proposed budget for 2023 — $14,480,079 — is only an increase of about $412,000, with salary increases and an increase in the budgeted amount for gasoline being the predominant contributors.

Bolstering the police and fire departments has been a top priority for Mayor Tyler Moore's administration. Since his inauguration in 2020, the city has increased its recruitment efforts for the police department by launching a recruitment website, a dedicated recruitment officer, a TV advertisement and negotiating a historic contract with the police union, giving officers a 20% pay raise over three years.

The tactics have worked. As of August 2021, the department had 83 officers, so the city has been able to net six officers in about a year's time. In the past, Stout has said he wants the department to have around 100 officers.

Community Crossings Grant

This year, the city was not able to participate in the state of Indiana's Community Crossings Matching Grant program, which provides matching grants to local municipalities to use for road and bridge improvement projects.

With three major road projects happening this year — Park Avenue, Center Road and Markland Avenue — no money was left to put up the local match, Jon Pyke, director of engineering, said.

The proposed 2023 budget does earmark $1 million to specifically go toward the local match, so if the city's Community Crossings application is approved by the state, the city will be able to participate in the program and receive an additional $1 million in matching funds from the state.

Tyler Juranovich can be reached at 765-454-8577, by email at tyler.juranovich@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @tylerjuranovich.