Lexington city leaders are putting $26 million into additional pay for public safety employees. Council members made that decision Tuesday as they were deciding how to spend budget surplus dollars. The money would go toward police, corrections, E-9-1-1, and fire salaries. Vice Mayor Steve Kay said there is a council commitment to address retention and recruitment challenges.
“There’s a perception that if we don’t give one or more of the bargaining units every single thing they want, that we don’t support them. I think that’s unfair. I don’t think it’s true,” said Kay.
The reference to bargaining units are those divisions with collective bargaining; police, fire, and jail workers.
Council Member Fred Brown proposed a memorandum of understanding as a way to increase pay. He said it would address retention and recruitment concerns in public safety without opening up collective bargaining. Brown said it was not about negotiating.
“It was a memorandum of understanding. It was not to open up any negotiations. This Council was going to offer what we could and that’s where the number come up with,” said Brown.
Council Member and mayoral candidate David Kloiber said just raising salaries hasn’t worked in the past because surrounding jurisdictions have also upped their police pay.
The Council action instructs the administration to negotiate the details in determining how much of a pay raise will come to public safety employees.
