The Wilton Select Board continued its discussion on police salaries in a mostly non-public work session on Friday.
The board scheduled the special work session after its meeting last week, where it discussed with Police Chief Eric Olesen a proposal to increase starting pay for the town’s police officers.
During Town Meeting in June, Olesen requested an amendment to increase the Police Department budget by $30,000, specifically for the purpose of recruitment of new officers and retention of the current staff.
Olesen presented the Select Board with a proposal for a new pay scale last week. But while the new salaries would stay within the current year’s budget for the police department if implemented now, it depended upon funds from empty department positions to make up the difference. If those positions were filled, the Select Board determined the ongoing additional cost to the department would far exceed a $30,000 annual increase.
The proposed wage scale would have uncertified officers start at $25.92 per hour, experience officers start at $31.96 per hour, the prosecutor at $34.85, sergeants at $36.36, lieutenants at $41.44, and the chief at $47.50, or a salary of $98,800. In some cases, the starting pay for officers exceeds the department’s current maximum pay for those positions.
The board ultimately told Olesen the wage scale proposal was too steep, and scheduled a special work session for July 9 to continue discussing the issue.
Wilton resident and New Hampshire Education Commisioner Frank Edelblut attended the session to give comment and urged the board to find a solution that helped attract and retain police officers in town.
“I can tell you just in my own experience at the state that employing people is really, really hard, and employing people in law enforcement is really, really difficult. It is a highly competitive environment,” Edelblut said.
Edelblut pointed out that other, nearby towns offer higher salary, including neighboring Milford, and said towns like Bedford offer a sizable signing bonus for both certified and uncertified officers.
“I think it’s important to recognize some of the salaries around us are more competitive than ours. We know Milford is way above us, we have Brookline that is higher than us. It’s not an easy balance in terms of what you’re trying to accomplish, I get that,” Edelblut said.
The board entered a non-public session Friday for the purposes of discussing employee compensation. The board was next scheduled to meet on Monday.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.