To keep up with the competitive job market, Missouri City has proposed an up to 4.4% pay plan increase for police and firefighters to ensure the city is retaining and recruiting quality public servants, officials said.

The gist

Missouri City City Council approved at an April 15 meeting the first reading of an ordinance to increase pay for police and firefighters to ensure the city aligns with market standards.

According to agenda documents, the last pay increase was approved in May 2023, setting the base to $65,237 and $60,484 for police and firefighters, respectively. When approved, Assistant City Manager Allena Portis said Missouri City had the highest base pay across the region at the time.

The new proposed ordinance will increase the pay plan 4.4% up to $68,110 for police officers and 2.4% up to $61,936 for firefighters, Portis said. With the ordinance’s adoption, police base pay will be above the regional median of $67,524, just behind the cities of Fulshear and Sugar Land, Portis said.
Fire base pay will also be at the regional median of $61,937, with Missouri City having only a $2 difference from Rosenberg, Portis said.
The background


Missouri City completed a two-phase salary study in late 2022 and early 2023, which surveyed and analyzed salaries from various surrounding municipalities to determine options for increasing employee wages.

The study results showed the majority of Missouri City employee salaries were at the bottom, with police department salaries at 13%-20% below the average and fire at 8%-20% below the average, as previously reported by Community Impact.

What they’re saying

City Manager Angel Jones said with the number of pay increases for both police and firefighters across the region, cities are constantly having to continue to address pay needs to keep and attract the workers.


“This is an employee market, and for those hard-to-fill positions, especially police, every time one jurisdiction increases, the others will follow after and increase even more,” Jones said. “It’s just a continuous process of trying to stay somewhere near the top, ensuring all the other things that employees value are being addressed as well.”

In case you missed it

In March, City Council approved an ordinance for hiring incentives for police and firefighters, including:
  • Entry-level police officers: $10,000
  • Entry-level firefighters: $6,000
  • Firefighters with three or more years of experience: $10,000
The ordinance went into effect April 1.

Next steps


Missouri City City Council will hold a special City Council meeting April 22 to approve the second reading of the ordinance.

If approved, the new pay provision will go into effect May 5 with employees seeing increases on paychecks on May 24, Portis said.