Gainesboro Aldermen Discuss Salary Increase For Police Department

Gainesboro Board of Aldermen will consider exploring increasing pay rates for its police department in the upcoming budget season.

Alderwoman Nancy Pruett said the city of Gainesboro has the lowest starting salary of all the surrounding cities of comparable size. She said the starting salary for an officer is $13.50 an hour.

“All these other towns, they take home their car expect for one which is South Carthage, everybody else has retirement, the same thing that we do,” Pruett said. “But the pay is really, really, low.”

Pruett said she would like to explore the possibility of increasing the starting salary by $1.50 an hour for a total of $11,500 per year. She said she would also like to investigate the potential for a performance bonus.

Alderman Ricky Head said if the board looking at raises for the police department, it would only be fair to look at raises for all city employees. He said while he wants to help everyone’s salaries, the city does not have the money to do so.

“I’m not dogging the police department by no means, I get it, I wouldn’t put a gun and a badge on for that money,” Head said. “But if you look at all of our other departments, they’re all underpaid compared to others as well (…) We don’t have the budget. We don’t have the budget for it. “

Pruett said the city can apply for a federal grant that would cover the cost of 75 percent of the salary with the city shouldering 25 percent.