What to know
Oak Ridge Police Chief Ken Foulch presented to the council the pay adjustments based on the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office pay scale, adopted during the county budget workshops in August. Under the adjustments, the department will eliminate two vacant positions.
"[We will] take that money and plug it into the current officer salaries,” Foulch said. “... We did not want to burden the citizens of Oak Ridge North with new taxes. The budget has already been approved, and so this is what we've come up with to meet that need and to retain our officers."
The pay increase, which ranges from $3,000 to $5,000 for officers, is based on years served with an emphasis on retaining officers and recruiting new officers in the future, Foulch said. The starting salary for a new officer was previously $61,500, while the new salary is $71,000.
The pay for existing officers' salary increase would be paid in yearly increments from 2027-29, during which it would be approved each year during city budget discussions.
How we got here
On Sept. 5, Montgomery County commissioners approved a fiscal year 2025-26 budget that prioritizes officer pay through a $9 million pay parity plan, as reported by Community Impact.
The Montgomery County pay parity plan came in response to the city of Houston’s decision in May to increase base police pay by more than a third over a five-year period. The increases to Montgomery County base salaries each year exceed those in Houston for the next four years.
What they’re saying
“We are sitting in the middle of the doughnut when it comes to this," Mayor Paul Bond said of regional pay increases. "Unfortunately, if we were on the outskirts, it would probably be a totally different view, but we're right here in the middle of it. We're experiencing the growth around us. And this is why we're here, in order for us to sustain the city's infrastructure and maintain it."
“We have to fix what we have to fix. And given the very limited options they have to work with, this seems like a pretty reasonable option to me,” council member Alex Jones said.
