Cobb public safety personnel will be receiving a new salary structure that becomes effective in March.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted 4-0 Tuesday night to implement a step-and-grade plan that will provide for incremental pay boosts, based on years of service and other factors.
Details of the plan were revealed last week as a “next step” toward increasing salary and benefits for Cobb public safety workers. Commissioners last year approved a seven-percent raise and a one-time bonus after coming under pressure from public safety personnel and community activists.
“This is a step forward,” South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid said before the vote. “It is not a panacea.”
The new plan kicks in March 22, and all qualified personnel in Cobb police, fire and sheriff’s departments will move up a step at that time.
The additional funding will come to $5.7 million for the current fiscal year 2020, which goes through the end of September.
The step-and-grade plan would increase starting pay for entry-level police officers, sheriff’s deputies and firefighters from $41,000 a year to $46,000.
Salaries for the highest police officer and firefighter positions would range from $67,290 to $103,626. For rank-and-file sheriff’s deputies, that top-end range would be $48,435 to $74,590.
Unlike other step-and-grade pay models—including the Cobb County School District—the Cobb public safety raises would not be automatic, and would have to go before commissioners during the annual budget process.
East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott was absent from the meeting.
“We still have work to do, but a lot has been done in the past 11 months,” said Susan Hampton of East Cobb, an advocate with the Cobb County Public Safety Foundation.
She urged commissioners to “never allow public safety to be removed as the No. 1 priority in future budgets.”
But another public safety advocate, Kimberly Peace Hill, was irate, saying “this scale does nothing for retention.”
She told commissioners that “if you’re going to do this, don’t drop the ball. Give them [public safety employees] a commitment.”
Cobb Sheriff Neil Warren, whose department is understaffed, said the step-and-grade plan “is outstanding. It’s long overdue.”
The commissioners’ comments were brief, with East Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell pledging that “as long as I’m in this seat, [public safety] will be my No. 1 priority.”
North Cobb commissioner Keli Gambrill voted for the measure, but wondered how the plan will be financed in the long haul since the county brings in $21 million less in property tax revenues ($392 million) than it pays for county employee salaries ($414 million).
She wanted future public safety raises to be tied to additional revenues from the state tag and ad valorem tax, the source of most of the funding for the step-and-grade costs.
“I hope our actions over the last year will show we are moving in the right direction.” Cupid said.
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