TIFTON — City public safety departments requested pay bumps at the most recent city council meeting.

City council members heard proposals from both the city police and fire departments to raise existing and starting pay rates and create pay incentives, respectively, during their March 4 meeting.

Police Chief Steve Hyman explained that, like many police agencies across the nation, the city police department was struggling to maintain staff amid heavy competition, made all the more difficult for them by a recent salary survey he had asked to be conducted revealing Tifton’s starting salary was below the minimum norm at $19 an hour.

He requested that the starting pay be increased to $22 an hour for certified officers and $20 an hour for uncertified officers studying in the police academy, and that the pay for existing officers below the rank of major be bumped up by $3 an hour.

Likewise, Fire Chief Bobby Bennett stressed the need for pay incentives for public safety employees, labeling it a potential morale boost and compensation for these workers as they continue to support their community.

Bennett explained that these incentives would primarily support public safety officers with Emergency Medical Technician certification or Community Emergency Response Team certification, or are bilingual.

The EMT officers would receive $2,000 annually, CERT officers $1,000, and bilingual officers $0.25 an hour. Bennett reported that currently the city had 20 EMT-trained staff, 18 CERT staff across police and fire, and 10 bilingual across city, police, and fire, though he also said that 13 officers were in the process of EMT certification and he was certain the number of bilingual city employees would increase.

Both chiefs confirmed that these adjustments would not drastically impact the current or next year’s budget, but Hyman did suspect that if the police department were to be fully staffed in 2025 it could have an impact upwards of $820,000.

The city council will discuss the item at their next meeting March 18. If approved, the pay adjustments will be implemented starting at the end of the month.