By rssfeeds-admin
Huntersville approves major salary boost for officers
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Newly sworn-in Police Chief Brian Vaughan spoke at the Huntersville Town Board meeting Tuesday night, asking for increased salary ranges for the town’s officers.
The department is currently dealing with a 25 percent vacancy, impacting their ability to fill specialized units such a school resource officers. With a rising cost of living in the region and competition from surrounding agencies like the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, Chief Vaughan hopes that the increase will improve hiring and retention.
Chief Vaughan notes that only 30 percent of Huntersville officers live in town, compared to 70 percent 20 years ago, due to the high cost of living.
The national average for police agency vacancies is around 12-15 percent, while 23 percent of NC agencies are over 20 percent, according to the NC Department of Public Safety.
Current starting salaries in the surrounding departments:
- Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office: $60,540
- Pineville Police Department: $60,376
- Charlotte-Mecklenburg PD: $59,502
- Mooresville Police Department: $59,000
- Matthews Police Department: $56,551
Chief Vaughan asked to increase the starting salary from $56,196 to $61,000, making them the highest-paid officers in the surrounding area. Existing sworn staff would receive the $4,800 pay increase.
This increase does not impact the existing budget due to lapsed salary money being used.
The board voted unanimously to increase the salary ranges, effective October 3.
MORE FROM QCNEWS.COM
Huntersville
Discover more from RSS Feeds Cloud
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.