Myrtle Beach could increase salary of police, fire departments

Myrtle Beach first responders could soon see a 5 percent increase in their annual salaries if City Council gives second approval to the fiscal year 2015-2016 budget as it was amended Tuesday.

City Manager John Pedersen asked Myrtle Beach City Council members to include a 5 percent cost-of-living adjustment for people who work in the police and fire departments – not including the department chiefs. The increase would impact more than half of the city’s employees.

“Myrtle Beach has at times the largest city in South Carolina,” Pedersen said, adding that the increased summer population puts an additional strain on the police and fire departments.

“I want to stress that we’re an organization where every department and every individual plays an important role, but there is an immediate need to make an adjustment, based on workload, for those [police and fire] personnel,” he said.

The budget already included $60,000 to study job classifications and salary comparisons and determine if and how much salaries in other departments would need to be adjusted to remain competitive.

There are 277 employees in the police department and 159 fire department employees, chief financial officer Michael Shelton said. There are about full-time 850 city employees.

A 5 percent increase would mean an additional $770,000 going to police department salaries and $465,000 for fire department salaries, he said.

Current entry-level certified police officers and entry-level certified firefighters make between $35,425 and $55,264, city spokesman Mark Kruea said. A police records clerk makes between $29,419 and $45,894.

City Council members said they thought it was important to make sure that first responders are paid competitive wages.

“We stand behind them with the city’s checkbook at this point,” Councilman Phil Render said.

Shelton presented a $175 million budget Tuesday that includes no property tax increase and no increase to the business license fee structure.

City Council voted last year for a 5 mill property tax increase – with 3 mills dedicated to funding 10 new police officers and 2 mills to pay for security enhancements on Memorial Day weekend.

Shelton said it is possible to pay for the salary increase without having to increase city fees or taxes.

Shelton said the city anticipates the police department operating with 5 percent of its positions vacant and the money not being spent on those salaries could fund the cost-of-living adjustment. The fire department has fewer vacant positions so some of the salary increase would need to be paid for through a one-time revenue stream, such as the city’s fund balance, or reserve account.

“This is first reading,” Councilman Wayne Gray said. “The budget is fluid. It’s the expectation that we will be able to adopt [the salary increase] without any changes to our fee structure or our tax [rate]. ... Because of good management of the expenditure side, we are going to be able to pass a budget with a million dollars of additional personnel costs to police and fire.”

City Council could consider second and final reading of the budget ordinance as soon as June 9.

This story was originally published May 12, 2015 at 8:20 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach could increase salary of police, fire departments."