The Murfreesboro City Council approved pay adjustments for public safety in the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget last week, raising the annual pay of police officers, sergeants, firefighters, and AEMTs.
At its meeting on July 25, the council voted to approve the pay adjustments after reviewing a survey of neighboring Middle Tennessee cities to compare the city’s police pay plan to peer cities.
City Council approves Pay Adjustments for Public Safety: The Murfreesboro City Council voted Thursday, July 25, 2024, to approve pay adjustments for Public Safety in the FY25 Budget. https://t.co/PoA0fxKIDA pic.twitter.com/d5mEqKXzEO
— City of Murfreesboro (@cityofmborotn) July 30, 2024
The survey found that the Murfreesboro Police pay plan should be adjusted by 2.5-7.5 percent to “better attract and recruit sworn police officers.”
In addition, the survey also indicated the Murfreesboro Fire Rescue Pay Plan should be adjusted by 11.5-13.5 percent to “retain firefighters, primarily those under Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and Paramedic training.”
The council also heard input from Murfreesboro Fire Chief Mark McCluskey, who said other cities were “impressed with Murfreesboro’s Fire Rescue training program, taking advantage of the city’s demonstrated professionalism to recruit and hire Murfreesboro firefighters away from the city.”
McCluskey explained that Murfreesboro “devotes hours of training, equipment, and other costs within the first 18 months of employment only to see the newly certified firefighters, firefighter EMT’s and firefighter paramedics leave for Metro Nashville and other departments.”
As a result of the survey’s findings and input from public safety officials, the council agreed to raise the fire rescue department payroll by $2.41 million and the police department’s payroll by $1.67 million.
Under the new firefighter pay plan, entry firefighters will see a pay increase of $8,205 per year; certified firefighters will see an increase of $5,976 per year; AEMTs will see a $7,620 increase per year; and paramedics will see a $12,638 increase per year.
Adjustments to the police officer pay plan will result in police officers receiving a $3,125 annual increase and sergeants receiving a $3,808 annual increase.
“The City Council highly values and supports our public safety employees—police officers, Fire and Rescue personnel and our dispatch team are what makes Murfreesboro a safe and livable city,” Mayor Shane McFarland said in a statement.
“We want to ensure that we are training and retaining the best and brightest in all our departments. Continued pay raises and adjustments show our commitment to making Murfreesboro a leader in our region. I am thankful that the Council and staff were able to accomplish the pay adjustments without a revenue increase and look forward to continued support of our entire City team,” McFarland added.
In addition to pay increases, City Human Resources Director Randolph Wilkerson advised the council at its July 25 meeting of other potential ideas to help retain city employees.
Wilkerson specifically mentioned, “upfront sick and vacation days, educating police and firefighters the differences between the City’s defined benefit and defined contribution plans, educational incentive pay, longevity pay, and specialized training.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
