Justice For Sale..... "How Much do we Budget?"

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by recyclemichael

Starting pay for an apprentice police officer is just under $34,000 per year.

The personnel services budget for the Tulsa Police department for this fiscal year is $67, 652,000. That number includes pay and benefits.

If I take that number and divide by 800 officers, it equals $84,565 per officer.

Generally, pay is about two thirds of the equation and benefits one third, which would make the average pay for a Tulsa Police officer in the mid-fifty thousand dollars per year.

RM-

Is the $67.6 mil for the entire department or just the officers?  Just curious to know how many serve in a support or admin capacity on the force.  

$84-plus thousand for each officer would be some very expensive insurance and a hefty pension contribution, in addition to the employer's SSI contribution.  That's just not computing with me.

What is the pay for a tenured officer?  

[RecycleMichael]

I found the pay grades on the Tulsa police website.

Yearly Salary

Police Officer $ 37,451.64 to $ 55,333.12  
Corporal            $ 46,823.50 to $ 61,384.59
Sergeant       $ 52,976.34 to $ 64,453.82
Captain        $ 66,364.31 to $ 74,650.82  
Major          $ 78,572.04 to $ 84,983.51
Deputy Chief   $ 92,846.95 to $100,423.27

These are the benefits listed on the website as well..

Benefits

EDUCATION PAY : Upon completion of the probationary period, officers who have earned a bachelor's degree receive $100 per month incentive pay. Officers can also receive $600 annually for continuing education.

LONGEVITY PAY : After three years of service, all officers receive longevity pay of $ 9.60 per month for each year of service. Each subsequent year, the rate increases at $ 9.60 per month to a maximum of $ 240.00 per month with 25 years of service.

MISCELLANEOUS BENEFITS : Uniform, accessories, and equipment (including firearms) are supplied upon graduation; thereafter, an annual uniform allowance is provided. Two credit unions are available. Free counseling and psychological assistance is provided.

VACATION BENEFITS : The table below shows the number of hours earned per year based on number of years service on the Department. Years of service: 1-5 5-10 10-15 15-20 20-25 25 & Over
Annual Vacation Hours: 112 128 168 184 200 208

HOLIDAY BENEFITS : Twelve Holidays are observed annually.

SICK LEAVE / FUNERAL LEAVE : Paid sick leave accrues at the rate of 1 (one) day of each full calendar month of service, with a maximum of 150 days. After accrual of 120 days sick leave, days earned may be converted to vacation leave. Some sick leave may be used for necessary care or attending to immediate family members. Funeral leave upon the death of an immediate family member is granted with pay for up to 3 working days.

MEDICAL INSURANCE : All officers are eligible for major medical insurance. They may choose from three plans  administered by the City; an HMO plan, a managed medical care plan, and an indemnity plan. The City pays 90% of the cost of medical and 100% of dental insurance for the employee and part of the medical for dependents.

LIFE INSURANCE : All employees receive a paid life insurance policy in the amount of two times their annual salary. (NOTE : A separate, immediate death benefit of $ 4,000 is paid by the state.) Life insurance is also available for dependents at a minimal cost to the employee.

LONG TERM DISABILITY : The City of Tulsa also offers a Long Term Disability Benefit. If an employee is off work for more than 90 days, (due to illness or injury) 60% of their monthly salary can be paid for up to 24 months.

RETIREMENT : Every officer is eligible for retirement benefits after 20 years of service, regardless of age. An officer becomes vested in 10 years. Benefits are 50% of an officer's salary averaged over the highest salaried 30 consecutive months of the last 60 months of credit service. For service beyond 20 years, benefits increase 2-1/2% annually to a maximum of 75% after 30 years. An officer who terminates before being vested is eligible to have contributions returned.

DEFERRED COMPENSATION : A Deferred Compensation Program is available to full time employees to shelter a portion of the gross annual salary from income taxes. The deferred income is placed into an investment fund handled through the City.

WORKER'S COMPENSATION AND SALARY CONTINUANCE:  Accidental injuries arising in the course of employment with the City of Tulsa are covered under the guidelines of the Worker's Compensation Law of the State of Oklahoma.  Generally, all reasonable and necessary medical expenses are paid, and weekly compensation payments are received during the period of time off work.

A separate, highly-desirable benefit available to City employees is "Injury Leave". Instead of weekly compensation payments, Injury Leave provides full salary up to 180 calendar days for job-related injuries.

[Conan71]

That explains a lot.  Thanks for the research.  Now the other part of the question, was the personnel budget just for officers/detectives or support/clerical/admin as well?

[RecycleMichael]

I don't know. I am also interested in how many are in each pay grade. How many captains do we have?

I was surprised to see that a twenty year officer gets five weeks of vacation a year.

That seems like a lot.

[Wilbur]

It is my understanding the cities alleged 4.5% last best offer is no more than an adjustment to ingrade steps (all ready budgeted) with no more than a 2.3% increased to those in final steps. The cities offer must be examined closely. Remember in the campaign we were going to have 200 additional officers. Have yet employed an additional officer only those for replacements. Have to examine everything that is coming from city hall extremely careful.

This City is putting out the false claim of a 4.5% pay increase, which is false.  While SOME officers might see a 4.5% increase under the City's plan, the vast majority of officers would receive ZERO.  Again, you have to compare last year's total salary dollars to this year's total salary dollars.  The City's change from last year to this year is 2.3%.  The exact same thing other city employees got.

Do police officers make more then most other city employees?  Yes.  Which job has the highest educational requirements?  Police.  Are there jobs within the city that have higher educational requirements?  Yes - and those jobs pay even more.  Do other city employees have to wear a bullet proof vest to work each day?  No.  Do other employees have to carry a gun to work in order to protect themselves?  No.  We all picked our profession and went in knowing full well that some professions pay more then others.  All the FOP is asking is to be paid AVERAGE.  Not more then average and not at the top of the scale.  Just average.  Why does the City insist  they pay their police officers, or every other city employee for that matter, at the bottom of the pay scale.  Terrific message to send to potential new employees - "come join our team and we'll pay you less then your counterparts."

[RecycleMichael]

quote:Originally posted by BASleuth

 Remember in the campaign we were going to have 200 additional officers. Have to examine everything that is coming from city hall extremely careful.

The person who said during the campaign that we were going to have 200 more police officers was Randi Miller.

She doesn't work at city hall.

[pmcalk]

quote:Originally posted by recyclemichael

I don't know. I am also interested in how many are in each pay grade. How many captains do we have?

I was surprised to see that a twenty year officer gets five weeks of vacation a year.

That seems like a lot.

I don't think so.  I want my police officers to have substantial vacation times.  After all, burn out is terribly high, and I want them well rested.  Most high stress jobs have similar vacation time--I belive that air traffic controllers have a similar vacation package. Most employers with which I am familiar offer their empoyees four weeks after 10-20 years of service.  I believe an additional week for police officers is reasonable.

[RecycleMichael]

I did not know that.

I looked up some other benefit packages at comparable cities and it is pretty common for that much vacation time with that much time on the job.

I stand corrected (and I need a vacation).

[pmcalk]

I need a vacation, too.  Funny, though, my kids seem to feel that they are entitled to go with me.  Whom do they think I am trying to take a vacation from?

[rwarn17588]

What stood out for me was that cops have 90% of their medical insurance and 100% of their dental insurance paid by the city.

That's a HUGE benefit. That means more take-home pay. Most employers I've heard about do an 80% payout, max, for health. And most of them have yearly caps for dental, too.

[MH2010]

In case you missed this:

http://www.fop93.com/TaylorPromises.html

[Wilbur]

What stood out for me was that cops have 90% of their medical insurance and 100% of their dental insurance paid by the city.

That is only for the employee and does not include family benefits.  Family coverage is much higher.  And this does not only apply to police, it applies to other city employees as well.  When the city negotiates insurance packages with insurance providers, it does so on behalf of all city employees except for firefighters (they are on their own plan).  And there is no retiree insurance benefits.

You might also look at what is missing:

No 401(k) benefits.  While government employees have a similar program known as 457(b), the City of Tulsa does not match one penny, like most employers do.

There is no such thing as profit sharing, bonuses, .......  like so many in the private sector.

And remember, when the FOP asks to be paid AVERAGE (compared to an agreed upon list of other similar size cities), benefits other then pay are also taken into consideration.  You will find most other governments' insurance, vacation, .... are similar.

[RecycleMichael]

Can one of you officers that post here report how many policemen or women are at each classification?

How many captains, sergeants, etc. do we have?

I am also interested in the list of comparable cities that Tulsa is matched against to find an average salary.

[TulsaSooner]

Another thing to consider is the police get a guaranteed step increase every year over and above what they negotiate for a "raise" (in this case, the 4.5% vs 8%)....oddly, that's often left out of the argument.

Pretty sure the non-union City employees don't enjoy that benefit.

[TulsaSooner]

quote:Originally posted by Wilbur


You might also look at what is missing:

No 401(k) benefits.  While government employees have a similar program known as 457(b), the City of Tulsa does not match one penny, like most employers do.

There is no such thing as profit sharing, bonuses, .......  like so many in the private sector.

The City, for a few short years, had a tiny matching "program" but that went away with one of the many budget cuts several years ago.  

Also, since the City does not turn a "profit", they would be hard pressed to offer employees any profit sharing or a bonus of any kind.  The closes thing they come to that is the longevity pay that the police officers get.

Additionally, they are able to receive money for continuing their education where the non-union City employees do not; that was another result of past years' budget and pay cuts that went, in part, towards funding the police and fire raises.