2007-01-08 Regular Meeting,Public Hearing and Workshop Meeting of the La Porte City Council

Browse Search

since 1999 have brought us up from the very last to just last or at the best second to last. Also these increases affect the lower level personnel more than veteran officers, especially if you take a step out, Taking out a step increment does not constitute a raise, it just gives employees the money they were already guaranteed one year earlier and helps them max out one year faster. If you are maxed out on your step then all you receive is the lump sum which stays the same year after year. This is why percentage increases are more affective long term than lump sum distributions, Education is also mentioned, stating that a degree is not required to become a police officer for La Porte. As a college graduate from Sam Houston State University with a Bachelors of Science in Criminal Justice with a program in Law Enforcement and Police Science, I can personally address this issue, I will not go into detail, but I can say that a person with a degree is trained exactly the same as a person without a degree. As an instructor and Field training Officer I do not train any different than someone who does not have a degree, An officer with a degree will have calls of service the same as one who does not. It also has no bearing on promotion. One of the main differences is other cities compensate employees with college degrees differently than the City of La Porte. The last article written was on Dec, 31st by John Black in the editorial section. Mr. Black makes reference to people with different hourly rates and with different benefit packages. He says the one with the better benefit package may not take home as much money, but is better compensated. This is true except the trend seems to be that the benefits are costing more with the salary trend not able to keep up, This is shown in the cost of living analysis mentioned by Mr. Black. I have already addressed this showing that even though the City's cost has gone up, so has the employees, But as the cost of living in general goes up there are no percentage increases to adjust salaries only step raises. And for those who do not get step raises they suffer worse, So as you can tell we can keep this information ping pong game up for eternity, but it would only slow down progression on a problem that is already at a snails pace, We as professionals and as elected officials need to stop the smoke and mirrors and try to resolve this in the best interest of the City and its employees, The police have an outlet with Meet and Confer which will begin this year. Hopefully the Association can set a standard with Meet and Confer and a plan can be developed that will help every city employee, not just the Police Department. I have elected to stand here before you and present this personally instead of printing this in the paper, I do not want to add to the mud slinging or war of words that has begun as this does not reflect well with the tax payers of this city, I am passionate about coming up with a solution that will benefit everyone, Thank you and God Bless.