COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (KMTV) — Council Bluffs is giving police supervisors a larger pay raise after a city council member pushed for bigger increases to encourage qualified officers to apply for leadership roles.
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City Council Member Cole Button, who also works as a county corrections officer, advocated for 3.5% annual raises for sergeants and lieutenants on the police force — above the 2.5% recommended by Mayor Jill Shudak.
Button said he is concerned that qualified officers will not apply for promotions if the pay increase does not make up for the added stress and responsibility.
"And then you lose out on potentially very qualified people applying for these rolls," he said.
Button said work-life balance matters more to a younger generation of officers. He noted that a new sergeant will not be assigned to the day shift, which could dissuade officers from pursuing promotions.
"There needs to be more incentive to get them to be willing to work nights," the councilman said. "Whoever gets that promotion it's going to be a lot worse hours and a lot more responsibility and a lot more liability."
"Your most important people are your sergeants," said Police Chief Matt Davis during the city council study session on Monday. "They provide line level supervision. They ensure morale, operations..."
The extra pay amounts to an additional $45,000 from the city budget, according to the mayor. She says Council Bluffs pays police supervisors well compared to similar Iowa cities, but also acknowledged that first-responder jobs come with risk.
"It's a hard subject to tackle because I do have to worry about the budget; and I also have to worry about the other supervisory staff and what kind of message does that send that one group of supervisory staff gets larger amounts than the other," Shudak said.
Shudak praised the departments efforts to recruit new staff and says that the money for the higher raises is included in the budget.
"We are being competitive and we are staying competitive and we are constantly looking out for that next group of recuiting candidates," said the mayor.
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