Law enforcement pay increase should remain a top of mind issue

“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

While the subject of this editorial has nothing to do with motion, Newton’s Third Law still applies to what Gov. Nathan Deal set in motion last year, even before the General Assembly session started in January. Deal decided to raise the salaries of state law enforcement officers by 20 percent. Now starting state trooper pay tops $46,000.

Of course the reaction was quick arising from sheriff deputies and municipal law enforcement personnel from all corners of the state asking, “what about us?” According to the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association the average deputy in one of the state’s 159 counties makes $29,900 to start. Average means some make more, some make less.

With Gov. Deal’s action, working for the state became very attractive for law enforcement personnel already working as deputies and police officers. How do you keep them in Adel and Alma when the state is offering a much higher standard of pay?

First stop for law enforcement was to approach their city councils and county commissions. Equalizing law enforcement pay is no easy task. Georgia cities and counties run the gamut when it comes to tax base, some can afford the extra cost and some can’t. All are unified in the thought of not wanting the extra burden thrust upon them by the governor’s action. Help was sought from the state, but that’s problematic. Local law enforcement is controlled and paid for by local government. Still, legislators tried to step in with Senate Bill 254 which basically would have mandated that all deputies and police officers would be paid at the same level as state troopers. Anyone see the problem here?

The Georgia General Assembly is famous for telling local governments what they must do while providing no funding to fulfill state requirements and this bill was in that vein. However, the author of SB 254 also proposed Senate Resolution 377, a constitutional amendment that would give law enforcement officers a state tax credit leaving the value of those credits up to the General Assembly.

That’s one way to do it, we suppose, block grants to cities and counties, could be another. However, this is one funding dilemma the state is not rushing to take on. According to the State of Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council there were 59,329 officers employed in 1,176 agencies as of the end of 2014, so you can imagine the cost.

Both bills didn’t make it this year and could be reconsidered next year. So how do you pay for a raise? Back in January, Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills called for an extra penny tax. In a letter to the citizens of Putnam County published in the Eatonton Messenger, Sills said, “The pay increases we are proposing will need some sort of tax increase for funding, and we believe it to be blatantly unfair to place the burden of it on the property owning taxpayer. I certainly don’t enjoy paying taxes, and all law enforcement officers pay taxes just like you do. We believe the only way funding for the increases we are proposing can be equitably accomplished is through an additional penny of sales tax which would be solely dedicated and restricted to fund only local city and county law enforcement officers’ salaries and benefits.”

It’s a tough to argue that local law enforcement does not deserve higher pay, although Bibb County Sheriff David Davis is quick to say that pay is not the driving force behind someone wanting to get into public safety. However, pay can be one of the reasons he or she stays or leaves a jurisdiction, particularly when the state is offering its troopers as much as $61,825 per year before they make corporal.

While a legislative fix is at least a year or more down the road some municipalities can work on this fix on their own or start gathering the political muscle to make the state implement a statewide penny tax for law enforcement. That doesn’t take a constitutional amendment.

This story was originally published March 11, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Law enforcement pay increase should remain a top of mind issue."