SPRINGDALE -- The City Council on Wednesday supported $2.29 million in pay raises for the Police Department by a 6-1 voice vote.
Meeting as a Community of the Whole on Wednesday, the council discussed the 2023 budget presented Oct. 21 by Mayor Doug Sprouse.
The proposed budget going into the meeting was $67,501,450.
The council also approved an annual salary increase for every five years firefighters serve the Springdale Fire Department. The Fire Department longevity pay matches the program approved Oct. 21 for the Police Department. The longevity pay for the Fire Department will add $300,000 to the 2023 budget.
The council moved the budget forward for approval in the regular City Council meeting set for Tuesday. Council member Mike Lawson didn't want to move the budget forward with two members of the council not at Wednesday's meeting to take part in the discussion. Council members Mike Overton and Mark Fougerousse were not at the meeting.
During the Oct. 21 meeting, Police Chief Frank Gamble asked the council for a pay scale adjustment that would pay beginning officers starting pay comparable to the market. The Police Department will have 17 unfilled positions for starting patrolmen by the end of this week, he said at Wednesday's meeting.
The proposed 2023 budget did not include this pay scale adjustment, said Colby Fulfer, the mayor's chief of staff.
Beginning patrolmen will earn $50,000 annually if the council approves the measure next week. The pay scale will increase for the entire department in varying amounts, Fulfer said. The salary increases would take effect Jan. 1.
"If the Police Department is down in officers, the market says we are not paying them enough," Fulfer said.
The longevity salary increase for the Police Department will be paid in addition to this proposed salary increase.
The $2.29 million in additional police pay will come from the city's undesignated funds in the 2022 budget. The council will vote Tuesday on a resolution to add that amount to the 2023 budget.
City officials expect a $4.2 million surplus in the budget at the end of 2022, which will be added to the carryover of the city's undesignated funds, Fulfer explained. "We were thinking very conservatively with our revenue projections," he said.
The city held $22.5 million in undesignated funds as of Wednesday.
Taking the $2.29 million for police raises from the undesignated funds rather than the 2023 budget will make the budget a little more "comfortable," council member Brian Powell said.
Fulfer noted the city budgeted 2022 for a $4 million surplus, but the city is on pace to end the year with a $9 million surplus.
The bulk of the city's budget come from sales tax receipts, which have been increasing as the city's population increases.
Gamble asked for the salary increase to help the department recruit and keep officers. He noted the Arkansas State Police and Fort Smith both recently raised starting officer pay to $50,000.
The $50,000 was based on a recent market salary survey, Fulfer said.
Council member Jeff Watson voted against the police salary increases, saying he preferred to wait until March or June to see what other cities were going to pay their starting police officers.
"I always understand when you're leading, it creates a situation that the others want to beat us, and then we want to beat them," he said. "I think it will make more sense if we look at it in March."
"There's nothing wrong with leading once in a while," Sprouse said. "I was on the Springdale School Board, which worked hard to lead in teacher pay."
"This is not the private sector where our goal is making profits," Fulfer said. "We have to return services to the community."
The story was updated to correct the amount for police department raises.