New Bill to Boost Police Officer Salaries in Small Cities

Texas lawmakers are considering a plan to boost police pay in smaller Texas communities. The state would kick in money to help raise salaries.

It would not require cities to meet a minimum salary but would offer state dollars to help with the increase.

Rep. Carl Sherman has authored a house bill, that allows cities with a population of under 5,000 to apply for state dollars to get police officers a minimum salary of $55,000.

“For them to protect our rights and to put their lives on the line, there should be a minimum pay,” said Rep. Carl Sherman (D-Desoto).

Sherman has seen salaries firsthand; he was once the city manager of Ferris. Ferris has a population of roughly 4,200.

Right now, the base salary there is about $67,500 but that was not the case three years ago when John DeLeon was the chief of police.

He is now the chief operation officer of Ferris.

"It was hard to get qualified applicants," DeLeon said.

City officials have increased their salaries. They budgeted for more money and additionally began using the DPS model, to certify officers as police, fire and EMT. This helped them get their base in Ferris to now above $67,500.

“When we got here, we had a revolving door of officers. We were either a training ground, or we had officers who just came in, waited until another opportunity opened up and they left, and so we never got any real good continuity. It is hard to build relationships with the community when officers are not here consistently,“ said Ferris City Manager Brooks Williams.

City Manager Brooks Williams says now they don’t have any turnover, and they are getting higher quality applicants who want to build their careers there.

Rep. Sherman says cities can't decrease their public safety budget to get more state dollars and have to show officers are in good standing.

He says a Republican has signed onto the bill, which must pass the house and senate.