Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 86, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 4, 1988 Page: 3 of 60
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Burleson Star, Thursday, August 4.1988—2
Electorate will make decision
Benefits package is
part of cost of BPD
BY DOTTIE WILSON
In an effort to present all infor-
mation available on the locally
"hot" issue of police salaries, the
city of Burleson has recently
compiled a comprehensive sum-
mary of estimated salaries and
benefits for police department
personnel (as of Oct. 1, 1988).
Included with the information
sheet is a chart which breaks
down each department em-
ployee’s current base salary and
monthly wages as well as those
same items as they are being pro-
posed on the referendum peti-
tion, soon to come to the vote of
the Burleson citizenry.
On Saturday, Aug. 13, it will be
the people who decide whether
Burleson’s police department
employees (including civilian
personnel as determined judicially
on July 22) are to receive base
salary increases as proposed by
the Burleson Police Officer’s
Association on the referendum
petition, or whether they (the
voters) choose not to fund
through their taxes the projected
"almost 10 percent property tax
increase” whicl) would be necess-
ary to “up” BPD salaries.
A long-term, hard-fought dif-
ference of opinion between city
and the BPOA really comes
down to being as simple as that.
The people will make the deter-
mination through their votes.
Each citizen of the community of
Burleson will be affected by the
outcome; a good voter turnout is
expected on the issue, which has
been under negotiation for
some time.
Mayor Jerry Boone indicated
last week that fie wanted the
citizens of Burleson to be fully
informed—for all the informa-
tion on the issue to be put before
the people so that the facts can
be utilized at the polls. "We’re
not trying to challenge the deci-
sion of the court (Judge John
Street of 'Ihrrant County’s 352nd
district Court) on including
civilian personnel on the referen-
dum,” said Boone.
"That decision was made, and
that’s the way it will be on the
ballot. I personally hated to see
the ballot changed because I
didn’t think it was fair for
civilians in the department to
receive the same increases as our
sworn personnel.” Boone added
that he was concerned that in-
creases in civilian BPD em-
ployees’ salaries (if the referendum
vote outcome should be "yes”)
would be rewarding those city
employees, but not others within
other departments who are per-
forming equally as well in
their positions.
Boone said, “We are con-
cerned with the salary level of all
city employees. We realize we’re
not the highest in any category,
and we propose to address that
in budget deliberations.” Having
the electorate aware of the salary
ranges and the benefit packages
currently offered to employees of
the police department is the goal
of the summary recently pre-
pared by the city.
The city of Burleson seldom
hires police recruits (those
without Basic state certification),
though that position is listed on
the summary sheet with a
minimum/maximum salary range
(estimated) from $13,270 to
$17,347. The minimum salan/ of
the "Police Officer I” category
(we have 11) is $17,763; max-
imum is $23,254 annually. “We
have a department merit pro-
gram, city-wide, in which a
department head reviews his
people on a specific date. That -
went into effect about three years
ago; it’s a management tool to
encourage better production
from all employees," said Boone,
explaining how the differences
between minimums and max-
imums is accounted for.
Police Officers II (who are in-
volved with community service-
work) haw a minimum/maximum
salary range of $18,657 to
$24,419, according to the chart.
Corporals range from $19,593 to
$25,625; sergeants from $20,571
to $26,915; and lieutenants from
$22,692 to $29,681.
Among the civilian personel,
the property and evidence clerk
position ranges from $11.460 to
Regarding vacations, for BPD
employees having between one
and four years of service with the
city, vacation time accrued is two
weeks per year; from five to nine
years of service, 2.4 weeks/yr.;
from 10-14 years of service, three
weeks/yr.; and for 15 or more
years, 3.6 weeks/yr.
Additionally, employees are of-
fered eight paid holidays per
year; sick leave for patrol person-
nel is 9.6 days per year and for
civilians, 12 days per year. The
differential there is related to the
officers’ shift work, according to
Boone. "Sworn personnel work
more hours per day. Their sick
leave is about comparable,” said
the mayor.
Health insurance benefits of-
fered by the city are good, with
the city paying the total cost of
health, dental, and life insurance
for employees at a cost (respec-
tively) of $955.20, $104.76, and
$44.40 per year. Health in-
surance for dependents of BPD
employees is optional and to be
paid by the employee. Some
cities, according to Acting City
Manager Jack Cummings, cities
with more dollars in their cof-
fers, are able to provide depen-
dent health insurance to employ-
ees. "We’re not able to do that,”
said Cummings. "Our health in
surance package falls about in
the middle of the range of what
cities are able to offer their
employees.”
A retirement plan through the
Texas Municipal League (TML) is
matched dollar for dollar by the
city of Burleson for the em-
ployee’s 5 percent contribution
of annual salary.
The city contributes 7.51 per-
cent of annual salary to match
the employee’s Social Security
contribution as well, and un-
iform allowances for both of-
ficers and civilians are provi-
ded. ■—- -
Two additional BPD benefits
also serve to inct-ease Salaries of
those officers as they become
certified at the second and third
levels. Those earning an Inter-
mediate Police Certificate earn
an additional $25 per month
($300 per year); and those
achieving Advanced Police Cer-
tification earn an additional $50
per month ($600 annually).
As incentive to stay with the
department, the city offers lon-
gevity pay, which accrues at $4
per month per year of service
completed with the BPD. As an
example, for an employee who
has been with the uepartment
five years, longevity pay would
amount to an additional $240
annually.
We’ll take two positions and
carry them across the chart
which breaks down the com-
parison between current salaries
of BPD personnel and proposed
salaries according to the police
referendum which will be voted
on Saturday week.
One of the full time dis-
patchers has a current base
salary of $14,622.40. With lon-
gevity and incentive pay added,
that figure is $14,670.40. Accord-
ing to the proposed referendum,
the base salary would be raised
to $ 17,811.20 (a 21.41 percent
increase) with estimated costs of
additional benefits at $321.62.
For that employee, the total es-
timated cost of proposed in-
creases would be $3,462.42.
For one BPD corporal, current
annual base salary is $24,419.20;
with longevity and incentive,
$25,355.20. That base salary
would be increased to $29,-
621.60; with longevity and incen-
tive added, $30,617.60 for a 20.75
percent increase. Cost of ad-
ditional benefits would be $861.45
and the total cost of proposed in-
creases, $6,123.35.
Including all BPD employees,
the chart totals estimated cost of
proposed increases at $171.-
393.94. Combined with estimateu
additional metrit salary • re-
quirements, the total estimated
cost of petition increases for the
fiscal vear 1988-89 would be
$175,836.12.
That’s a lot of figures and
dollar amounts, almost more
than anyone wants to think
about. But before election day on
the referendum vote, every
Salary referendum
decided Aug. 13
S3
5
Current Yearly and Proposed Yearly Salari $
CURRENT
PROPOSED
Police Recruit:
.....$13,270
Police Recruit:
. . $16,116
Police Officer I:
.....$17,763
Police Officer I:
. ; $21,600
Police Officer II:
.....$18,657
Police Officer II:
. . $22,692
Corporal:
.....$19,593
Corporal:
. . $23,808
Sergeant:
.....$20,571
Sergeant:
. . $24,996
Lieutenant:
.....$22,692
Lieutenant:
. . $27,576
Property/Evidence Clerk:
Property/Evidence
Clerk:
.....$11,460
. . $13,908
Secretary I:
.....$12,022
Secretary I:
. . $14,616
Police Dispatcher:
.....$14,622
Police Dispatcher:
. . $17,763
Records/Dispatch Mgr:
Records/Dispatch Mgr:
.....$16,120
... ...
. . $19,593
Letter to editor
Rutledge
is one fine
reporter
You have one good reporter in
the name of Jolene Rutledge. She
does what she says she will do.
Believe me, it’s hard to find peo-
ple today that match that
description.
You are fortunate to have
Jolene and I trust you do ap-
preciate her? I certainly do.
Perhaps Burleson will be more
beautiful if we keep our trees
trimmed.
FRED KIESLING
BY SALLY ELLERTSON
You may have seen the port-
able signs placed around town
saying, "Back The Badge, Vote
Yes Aug. 13.” If you found your-
self in the dark about the election
issue, this is a recap of the. last
three months.
The issue at stake is whether to
raise the salaries of the sworn
and civilian personnel of the,
Burleson Police Department. The
BPOA said that the raise is
needed to be competitive with
surrounding agencies and to
keep current officers in Burleson.
"Our objective is to try to raise
our base salaries up to where we
are competitive with the sur-
rounding agencies. We are not
asking for more than what we
feel we deserve at this time,” the
BPOA spokesman said in a May
23 article in the Burleson
Star.
According to the salaries pro-
posed on the petition and ballot,
Acting City Manager Jack Cum-
mings estimated the cost of say-
ing yes to the referendum to be
approximately $175,000. That
amount would take slightly less
than an estimated 10 percent in-
crease in city taxes.
The BPOA calculated the cost
to the citizens based on the
current tax rate and a family in a
$60,000 home. If the referendum
goes through and the BPOA
receives the salary increase effec-
tive Sept. 1, the family in the
$60,000 home would pay $27.45
in addition to the current $274.50
city tax they now pay. Thd total
would be $301.95. Those figures
were verified by Jack Cummings,
acting city manager.
IN A SURVEY OF 20 cities
ranging in population from
42,550 to 9,500, Burleson ranked
number seven with a population
of 16,250.
In that same survey Burleson
ranked number 15 in salaries for
starting officers. Those salaries
ranged from $26,040 per year to
$14,304 per year. Burleson start-
ing officers (police officer one
rank) receive $17,763 per year.
Eight of those 20 cities ramfS
from a monthly salary range siii$*
vey gathered by Ron Dcutsch-S?
the Dallas lawyer hired by thce-
city to negotiate with thet-
Burleson Police Officer’s Asso-ct
ciation—in a salaiy survey fromH
the Texas Municipal League of£j
fice in Austin.
Burleson was compared witlns;
nine cities within the 10,000 tg2
15,000 population range. Those^
cities included: Bellaire, Port/ii
Neches, Snyder, Gainesville,.:"
Weatherford, Sulphur Springs/5
White Settlement, Uvalde, an<f5
Hereford.
Sulphur Springs was not used: "3
in this 20 city survey because if.3
had no record of the starting^
salary for a police officer one /
rank.
The BPOA began putting the
gears into motion at the begin-
ning of May when they asked the
citizens tp help the officers and
civilians in the department
receive a salary increase.
The statistics were a major
force behind the movement
because Burleson was having’,
problems keeping police officers
in the city for more than a few
years. Only eight sworn person-
nel have been with Burleson for
six or more years. There.are 26
sworn personnel in the depart-
ment.
In addition to that number,
those in charge of a shift ofc
officers—the sergeants—had tum-
bled from having an average of
13'/2 years of experience in the
1985-1986 annual report, to hav-
ing an averge of 4‘A years of ex-
perience in the 1986-1987 annual
report.
MORALE IN THE BPD was.
low due to the pay situation, los-
ing good officers to other cities;',
and the loss of the BPD’s first,,
officer—the death of Officer
Janice Vanderveer in December.?
The department was also in:
limbo waiting for a new chief to,-;
be named. Becoming competitive"
with surrounding agencies inK
Tarrant and Johnson Counties
and receiving the backing of its
See VOTERS, Pg. 6A
"f*
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
AWARD WINNER
1988
BURLESON STAR
(U8PS-0797M)
Second-Class Postage Paid at
Burleson, Tfexaa 78028
Susan Hutson-Tfce
Jam os Moody
Cathy Smith
Dottle Wilson
President
Editor A Publisher
Advertising Mgr.
Managing Editor
NEWS STAFF
Jolene Rutledge, Kim Renfro
Romeo Mongols, Sally Ellertson
ADVERTISING SALES
Chris Akey
COMPOSING
’’hrl Often, Sheri Barnes
v f*.y Key Mitchell, Sandl Matson
BUSINESS OFFICE
Ifcy Culver, Cindy Howell
Allyne Middleton. Julie Hutson
CIRCULATION
Barry Hutson, Glenn Cochran. Mark Matas
Mark Baker. Mike Moody. Chris Bash
/ Subscription Price SIAM Per Year
la Johnson A lhrrnat Counties
Other Areas of Tuns tM.ll
—P rw.irTO, bCt nuiart TroTiT p r£^7£2r*^ trarxu ur uuncaun r treicxKno" pul :
Home Purchase or Refinance
Adjustable Rate Mortgage with
NO COST CONVERSION
TO A FIXED RATE...
Features: 9.0% ARM
FIRST YEAR RATE-Subject to Change
® Low Initial Monthly Payments
Payments Adjust Annually
® Simple Conversion Option Anytime
Beny^eny13th and 61st Payments
® 2% Annual-6% Lifetime Caps
Attractive Index and Margin
® Fully Amortizing-No Deferred Interest
Please contact Kim Biggerstaff
for details, or to Make Application
295-BANK
to $15,724; telecommunications
operators (there are seven, some
full time, some part time) from
$14,622 to $19,115; and the
dispatch/records manager from
$16,120 to $21,091.
some thought to the figures, the
comparisons, the BPD itself, and
the city’s position in the issue. It will
be our tax dollars that will be
funding the increase. Each
citizen should weigh the matter
Definitely a part of the cost to carefully and talk with as many
the city of Burleson is the benefit city and BPD officials as possible
package offered to its employees, in order to cast a • totally in-
including those in the BPD. formed vote.
The BuHaaoa Star is on
nswspapnr published twice weekly on Mom*
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Moody, James. Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 86, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 4, 1988, newspaper, August 4, 1988; Burleson, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth760747/m1/3/?q=music: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Burleson Public Library.