The Murfreesboro City Council voted Thursday, July 25, 2024, to approve pay adjustments for Public Safety in the FY25 Budget.
“The City Council highly values and supports our public safety employees—police officers, Fire and Rescue personnel and our dispatch team are what makes Murfreesboro a safe and livable city,” said Mayor Shane McFarland. “We want to ensure that we are training and retaining the best and brightest in all our departments. Continued pay raises and adjustments show our commitment to making Murfreesboro a leader in our region. I am thankful that the Council and staff were able to accomplish the pay adjustments without a revenue increase and look forward to continued support of our entire City team.”
City administrators worked hard to accomplish a net savings of $4.1 million to accommodate the necessary Payroll Adjustment through projected increases in sales tax and business tax growth revenue and lowering budgeted expense items. The City’s FY25 budget remains balanced under the projected savings.
At the request of Public Safety leadership, staff surveyed neighboring Middle Tennessee cities to compare the City’s Police Pay plan to peer cities. Survey results determined that the Murfreesboro Police pay plan should be adjusted by 2.5-7.5 percent to better attract and recruit sworn police officers. Survey results also indicated the Murfreesboro Fire Rescue Pay Plan should be adjusted by 11.5-13.5 percent to retain firefighters, primarily those under Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and Paramedic training.
The Fire Rescue Department payroll increases resulted in a recommended increase of approximately $2.41 million and the Police Department pay increase resulted in a recommended increase of approximately 1.67 million.
Fire Chief Mark McCluskey advised the Council that other cities were impressed with Murfreesboro’s Fire Rescue training program, taking advantage of the City’s demonstrated professionalism to recruit and hire Murfreesboro firefighters away from the City.
The City devotes hours of training, equipment, and other costs within the first 18 months of employment only to see the newly certified firefighters, firefighter EMT’s and firefighter paramedics leave for Metro Nashville and other departments.
During the July 25 Council meeting, City Human Resources Director Randolph Wilkerson outlined some potential ideas to help with retention of City employees, including “upfront sick and vacation days,” educating police and firefighters the differences between the City’s defined benefit and defined contribution plans, educational incentive pay, longevity pay, and specialized training. Some City employees benefit from a 401K and 457K plan but do not have a defined pension as other longer-term employees.
Under the approved Public Safety pay adjustments July 25, the following will apply to Public Safety in FY25:
Firefighter Pay Plan Adjustments
Starting Annual Salary
Entry Certified Firefighter
Firefighter Firefighter AMT-B AEMT Paramedic
New Firefighter Pay Plan $56,883 $58,305 $59,763 $61,257 $67,616
Existing Pay Plan $48,678 $52,329 $53,637 $54,978
Increase $8,205 $5,976 $7,620 $12,638
Police Officer Plan Plan
Starting Annual Salary
Police Sergeant
Officer
New Police Officer Pay Plan $65,625 $79,958
Police Officer Existing Pay Plan $62,500 $76,150
Increase $3,125 $3,808
