Municipal order puts a halt on automatic pay raises for police in Corbin

A municipal order, issued earlier this month, to freeze salaries in the Corbin Police Department was done to halt what officials are saying was a budgetary mistake approved in 2011 that led to automatic raises with no prior review.

The order was approved at the regular monthly meeting of the Corbin City Commission July 8. Corbin City Manager Marlon Sams said the order went into effect immediately after passage.

This week, Corbin Mayor Willard McBurney said the move was necessary to prevent police salaries from getting out of control at the expense of other departments, and the overall budget. He said the initial intention was to bring up the hourly rate of police officer pay, but in so doing the previous Board of Commissioners approved a pay scale that mirrored the city of London’s.

The problem, he explained, is that the scale built in automatic raises.

"We got to looking at that and at the rate it was going, we couldnÕt afford it. We put a freeze on the pay scale," McBurney said. "We stopped what was happening and from now on their pay raises will come when everyone else’s does – as we deem it necessary."

McBurney said officials became keenly aware of the problem when it was noticed that a small number of rank-and-file officers were making upwards of $60,000 annually with overtime pay.

He said officers in the police department have had more of a chance in the past year to get overtime pay because the department was shorthanded by three officers. But the situation has been corrected.

ÒWe cut the overtime back É Overtime will kill you. ItÕs expensive,Ó McBurney said. ÒWe should be back more in tune with where we should be.Ó

The Police Department is the most costly for the city of Corbin. This fiscal year, it is projected to spend $1.9 million, an increase of $44,261 from a year ago. Salaries and wages in the department are actually expected to decline compared to the last fiscal year, however, by around $6,500. Sams said that’s mostly due to the municipal order freezing salaries.

For years, Corbin police officers were among the lowest paid for similar cities in Kentucky. It was one reason officials always blamed for high turnover rates.

All that has changed. Now, the departmentÕs officers are competitive with and often surpass other towns. The result, McBurney contends, has been more stability.

Officers will still automatically get an increase in pay when they complete academy training and when they are promoted within the ranks.

With the exception of the Public Works Department, which is traditionally the lowest paid of city departments, there were no widespread raises given to city employees this year. There were some targeted increases, however, including at The Arena and in the Office of Building Inspector and Code Enforcement.