Chief tells committee low pay makes it tough to hire, retain police officers

The city council’s finance committee met Thursday to discuss financial adjustments that may be necessary to the city’s current fiscal year’s budget.

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Friday, Feb. 24, 2017 — Two Bardstown Police officers will represent Bardstown at National Police Week in Washington, D.C. this May — provided the city’s police protection can be managed without them.

Greg Ashworth, the city’s risk manager, gives the city council finance committee a detailed description of the air conditioning issues at the city’s COBEC building on East Muir.

Bardstown Police Chief Steve Uram told the city’s finance committee his department’s low officer pay makes it increasingly difficult to recruit new officers and keep the ones he has.

When he took over as chief in November, Uram said the department was two officers short of being fully staffed. There are currently two police recruits in training that won’t be ready for duty until early 2018, he said.

To complicate staffing matters, two additional officers recently turned in their resignations. One officer left to join the Louisville Metro Police Department for higher pay. The second officer will leave to take a job closer to home in Hardin County.

He also anticipates the resignation of a third police officer in May, he said.

“To be blunt with you, people are leaving for money,” he told the committee. “They’re getting higher wages when they leave.”

Other nearby departments — including Springfield and Elizabethtown — also pay better. City officers who move next door to the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office can increase their pay by an average of $4 to $5 more per hour.

That difference in pay also makes in virtually impossible to recruit local deputies to join the city police force.

“I can’t get them to come over,” he said. “I can’t get them to take the loss. I’ve had some who said they would like to, but they’re not going to take the loss in wages.”

The committee discussed the need to amend the police budget to account for anticipated overtime costs. Uram told the committee he will present a salary analysis that examines police officer pay next month.

OTHER BUDGET CONCERNS. The committee examined other expenses that may need to be part of a budget amendment for the current budget prior to the end of the fiscal year June 30.

The other concerns included:

— a faulty pump at the city pool. The pump is the original one that served the pool after it was built in 1978. The pump has been rebuilt twice over the years. The cost to replace the pump and damaged pipe is $19,800.

— the city tennis courts by the skate park are in poor condition and need renovation. While not a safety hazard, their deteriorating effects play. Repairing the courts will cost an estimated $30,000 to $70,000 to fix the courts.

— the air conditioning system for the COBEC building (the former OKH school building) on East Muir). Since the building was acquired by the city, only one of its two AC compressors has been functional, and that single compressor is failing. The city can opt to replace the failing compressor or replace the 30-year-old system with a newer, more efficient system.

— adding a ramp or replacing a chair lift at the COBEC building to bring it into ADA compliance.

-30-