Columbus City Council ratifies bonuses, wage raises for a number of public safety workers
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Columbus City Council voted for a number of wage increases and bonuses for city safety workers Monday night, including current and future emergency dispatchers and police public records technicians.
Under their freshly-amended union contracts ratified by the council, city 911 call takers and dispatchers as well as police records technicians will see increased wages on their next pay stubs.
Council also greenlit training bonuses for any emergency call taker or dispatcher who either taught or will teach a class, or had or will have a trainee under them, between Jan. 1, 2022, and the end of 2023, according to the OK’d memorandum of understanding. The one-time bonus totals $2,500.
That training bonus is in addition to $4,000 in retention and recruitment bonuses, disbursed in three installments, in the memorandum of understanding. Police records technicians and 911 emergency communications specialists will get matching training and retention bonuses -- all slated to go out in July, October, and December.
The three individual ordinances passed unanimously -- a 6-0 vote with Councilmember Lourdes Barroso de Padilla not in attendance -- as part of the consent agenda. The memorandums of understanding amended the AFSCME and Fraternal Order of Police contracts with the city, which run through mid-2024.
The city negotiated the contract amendments with work shortages in mind, said Councilmember Emmanuel Remy. The council also ratified double-time overtime pay this summer for Columbus Division of Police officers as the division navigates its own shortage.
“We want people to know that they’re valued for working for us, so we need to make sure that we cut the red tape with civil service, we make sure that we’re hiring plenty of people, and then of course, paying them what they deserve,” Remy said.
It also comes as Columbus police deal with a backlog of public records, with requests regularly fulfilled months after they were made.