Should Natchez police chief’s salary be raised?
Published 12:03am Sunday, January 29, 2012Editor’s note: In the original version of this story, Mayor Jake Middleton incorrectly gave the salary range for the information technology director being hired by the city. Middleton said Monday the correct salary range is $45,000 to $55,000.
NATCHEZ — When the 10-year veteran Natchez Police chief walked away from his office this fall, his salary was lower than that of many other chiefs in the state, including those serving smaller communities.
And as the Natchez Board of Aldermen prepares to hire a new chief in the coming month, the mayor and most aldermen say increasing the chief’s salary may simply not be an option.
When former Chief Mike Mullins was asked to retire early in November, he was making $52,300 — the same rate of pay he had made since 2002.
That figure put the Natchez Police Department’s chief salary below nearly every other similarly sized town in Mississippi and even $12,700 lower than the chief’s salary in much smaller Vidalia.
The Natchez Police Department serves approximately 15,700 residents. The department has 63 full-time employees, 44 of which are police officers.
The next closest city in population and department size is Grenada, with an approximate population of 13,000 and 44 officers. Grenada pays its chief $56,000 annually.
Vidalia — which serves only 4,400 and has 24 officers — pays its chief $65,000.
Larger Laurel — population 18,500 — pays its chief $61,000.
McComb — population 12,700 — pays Police Chief Gregory Martin $60,000, a number that he said was lowered from $73,000 because of budget cuts in 2008 when the previous chief retired.
Brookhaven — population 12,500 — pays its chief $62,500.
Room for a raise?
Natchez leaders admit that it’s important to pay the chief — and officers — a good salary, and many admit that the Natchez rate of pay may be low, but few said they were ready to vote for a raise.
Aldermen — who will set the salary — say the dollar amount of the new police chief’s salary will depend on several factors, including the past experience of the new chief and the city’s finances.
Aldermen Ernest “Tony” Fields and Dan Dillard said it would be wise to compare the city’s salary to other similar-sized cities, but also said some of those cities salaries seemed high.
Dillard pointed out that the Natchez chief’s salary wasn’t far behind Grenada, but pointed to the similarities in the rates of pay in larger Laurel — $61,000 — and smaller McComb — $60,000 as an example that perhaps some chiefs are overpaid.
Regardless of what other cities are doing, Alderman James “Rickey” Gray said he doesn’t see much wiggle room for Natchez.
“We’re having to borrow money to make payroll now, so even though they do deserve a raise, I just can’t see it happening now,” he said.
