Fayette County

Metro Atlanta police department boosting pay for its officers, increasing signing bonus

By Tom Jones, WSB-TV
By Tom Jones, WSB-TV

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. — Police in one city say they’re now able to do their jobs without worrying about how they are going to feed their families.

That’s after the Peachtree City significantly boosted the pay for its public safety workers to keep them from leaving. Workers throughout the city also received raises.

Channel 2′s Tom Jones talked to officers about the impact the raises would have on their lives “People are really excited,” Officer Michelle Taylor told him, as they road in her patrol car.

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Taylor says she and her co-workers morale has been boosted thanks to the significant boost in pay. “The increase in pay and support from the citizens and the government here is just incredible,” she said.

The city council voted Thursday night to raise salaries across the board to get them in the top percentage of salaries in the area. 71% of the increase went to police, fire and EMT’s.

Starting pay for a certified officer or firefighter was $52,600. That officer could work for years and couldn’t more than a little more than $76,000.

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“Our new starting pay will be $58,800 and the maximum of the range will be $105,661,” Assistant Police Chief Matt Meyers said.

“We knew we had to do something to be more competitive,” Mayor Kim Learnard pointed out. Learnard says the city had been struggling to hire and keep good employees across the board. She says it was really tough keeping public safety workers. The city would train them and then they would leave after getting jobs that paid more. “If you want to keep good employees you have to pay them,” she said.

And that’s what the city has done.

Assistant Chief Meyers read a text he got from an officer about the raises. “This means so much to me because I won’t have to constantly pick up extra duty jobs to make ends meet,” the officer wrote.

People who live here say paying officers more is a no-brainer. “They keep the peace. Keep people safe. So it’s certainly important to make sure that they have a good wage,” Hans Gara said.

Taylor says officers can do their jobs better when they’re not worrying about feeding their families or having to work extra jobs. “It’s always nice to be paid for the hard work we put in,” she said.

New police officers and firefighters get a $6,000 signing bonus. Other new workers get $2,000. All workers are getting a boost in their benefits package as well.

The city says no taxes will be raised to pay for it all.

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