A couple weeks ago News13 showed you Horry County’s new plan to pay its law enforcement more money.
Since then, we’ve checked with the the president of the National Fraternal Order of Police, Chuck Canterbury, to hear his thoughts on the proposed $1 per hour pay increase.
Canterbury said on the phone Tuesday the plan is merely a start and does not do enough long-term to keep officers happy and keep the agency competitive with Myrtle Beach.
He said one of the biggest problems is that the proposal does not alleviate pay compression– meaning people with a lot of experience don’t make much more than people starting out.
“The people that have been there eight, nine years that are barely making above an entry-level officer are gonna continue to be very close to entry-level salary,” Canterbury said.
He said a salary survey should have been done before the plan was unveiled and should have been done by position and tenure.
We asked council Chairman Mark Lazarus for a response. He said the dollar per hour pay increases, in addition to the county-wide three percent merit increases, mean pay grades are being separated.
“So when you do both of those together then there is a percentage increase,” Lazarus said. “So if you make $40,000 you’re gonna get a bigger raise at three percent than you are if you make $20,000 or $30,000. Just do the math.”
According to a county presentation, right now a certified officer in Horry County makes $38,584. Under the new pay increases that officer would make $42,137. The presentation also factored in health insurance benefits and a take-home patrol car. Those numbers included bring a certified officer’s new salary to $45,837.
“There’s a created value there, whether that’s gas, getting home,” Chairman Mark Lazarus said last month, following the unveiling of the new pay plan. “When you add all that up it’s well over the $44,000 that the base pay for the City of Myrtle Beach is.”
A certified police officer in Myrtle Beach will make $44,000 under the city’s new plan.
News13 checked Myrtle Beach’s website, and the city says it pays for 100% of its employees health, vision and dental insurance. That is worth about $8,000 a year, according to the city.
“To try to equate the healthcare as part of entry-level salary is absolutely disingenuous,” Canterbury said. “Myrtle Beach doesn’t count their healthcare in their pay raise.”
Canterbury said not only does the new plan not get the salaries up where they should be, but it also does not call for more officers, which he said the county desperately needs.
“109 patrol officers for a county with a population of over 300,000 is absolutely inadequate,” Canterbury said.
Some other councilmen have called for more police, but Lazarus told News13 Tuesday the department needs to fill vacancies first.
“Step one is to raise the salary levels so we can have retention and fill all those positions that we have,” Lazarus said. “Once we are steady then I think it’ll be the duty of this council to look at a way to increase the numbers.”
For now the county works to include the officer pay raises in its upcoming budget. That plan would go into effect October 1.
