Police, public employee pay raises core topic in Jonesboro mayoral race

Jonesboro city employees have petitioned elected officials for years to raise their salaries, and it’s turned into a key issue in the 2016 mayoral election.

Six candidates, including incumbent Mayor Harold Perrin, are vying to be the city’s chief executive. Perrin said recently he supports the recent police pay increase, and he thinks it’s time to raise pay rates for firefighters and non-uniformed city workers. Some have argued the city can afford the pay increases now, but in the future, it might be difficult to make the budget numbers work, especially if there is an economic downturn that eats into sales tax revenues.

Jonesboro city officials recently passed a new police pay plan that is estimated to add about $600,000 to the payroll this year alone, and it will steadily increase until it adds about $1.5 million to the payroll, annually, by 2022. Officials are considering pay raises for the rest of the city’s workforce, and one proposal under review would add up to $1.4 million more to the city’s payroll this year.

Many of the city’s 600 employees have complained for years they are underpaid when compared to employees in similarly sized cities statewide.

Mayoral candidate Harold Copenhaver told Talk Business & Politics that Jonesboro residents should be concerned about how much the raises will add to the city’s budget in the coming years. He blamed Perrin and aldermen for passing the police pay plan hastily, and for not adopting an adequate pay plan years ago.

“For the next 20 years we will be responsible for generating over $60 million in revenue to cover this year’s raises alone,” Copenhaver said. “It is critical that we take care of all of our city employees, however, it is reckless to vote on a plan of this magnitude without thoroughly studying its impacts on the budget.”

Copenhaver lobbed further attacks against Perrin, saying the two-term mayor hasn’t been transparent. Issues such as property code problems, the dual convention center projects, and others have not been handled the right way by the city, he said.

Mayoral candidate and Alderman John Street voted for the police pay increase and he told Talk Business & Politics he supports the proposed raises for other city employees. Street said he recognized the economy may weaken at some point, but the city has to reward its workers for the job they do.

“It’s been a long time coming … pay them a fair wage,” he said.

At some point a sales tax to support public safety will have to be brought back before the voters, he said. Residents will support the tax hike if the money is used to improve public safety services. Better pay means the city will have less turnover in the police and fire departments, and that will lead to a safer community, he said.

Mayoral candidate Thomas Elwood said employees deserve pay raises, but he thinks city officials have erred enacting the pay increases during this part of the year. The pay increases should be enacted at the beginning of the year after the budget has been set and voted upon. If elected, Elwood told Talk Business & Politics he would review the police pay plan because it has glaring problems. The way the pay plan is structured, senior officers are not protected from layoffs if revenues drop, he said.

Elwood blames the city’s elected officials, including Perrin, for the problems. He said the council and mayor have known for years that city employees are grossly underpaid for their services, and did nothing.

“I don’t think it’s legal (pay raises) the way they did that … it’s pure laziness,” he said.

Nathan Coleman, a mayoral candidate and police officer, has been at the forefront of the police pay raise fight. Coleman said he makes virtually the same amount of money even though he’s been on the force for eight years. He supports pay raises for other employees and admits it might be financially hard at some point.

“No one wants to bankrupt the city,” he said.

The city will save money when it doesn’t have to train so many new officers each year, he said. Jonesboro lost 77 police officers in the last five years, many of whom left because of pay issues, he said. It cost the city more than $2 million to train new officers in recent years, according to estimates.

Mayoral candidate Amanda Dunavant told Talk Business & Politics she wholeheartedly supports pay raises for city employees. The raises are long overdue, she said. A newcomer to the political stage, Dunavant beleives the city’s growth will stymie any potential future economic downturn. As the city becomes safer from safety employee retention, and as the two new convention centers lure more people and potential sales tax dollars to the city, the raises will be paid for, she said.

“I believe a janitor should be paid more than any CEO,” she said.