Lucas proposes pay raises for all Kansas City police officers. Here are the details
Mayor Quinton Lucas on Wednesday announced he is proposing pay raises for all Kansas City police officers and a 30% bump in the starting salaries for new officers.
Lucas included the funding plans in the text of his annual State of the City address, which is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. He also proposes that the city budget fully fund the Kansas City Police Department at 25% of the city’s general revenue. That amount is mandated by Missouri law.
“Our budget proposes the City fully fund Kansas City Police Department personnel and, indeed, exceeds the Kansas City Police Department’s submitted personnel budget request, proposing pay raises for all officers,” Lucas said in a written copy of the speech made public Wednesday morning.
The proposed city budget will be presented to the City Council Thursday during its business session.
Lucas’ proposal comes a day after The Star published a video showing Kansas City police officers wrestling a Black woman to the ground at the Power & Light District.
The Police Department has struggled in recent years to retain officers. About two years ago, the starting salary for the Lawrence Police Department was $50,840. At that time, the KCPD was paying new officers $43,404, which was ranked among the lowest of the surrounding law enforcement agencies.
Under Lucas’ proposal, the starting salary for new officers would be increased by $15,000 or 30%. The bump in starting pay for officers would go from $50,000 to $65,000.
Lucas is proposing pay raises for all officers but he did not say how much those raises would be.
The police department is seeking a 4% increase for all professional staff with a 5% increase for those on the highest-step pay scale.
Lucas’ proposal also includes hiring and retention incentives for 911 call takers and dispatchers. The $2,500 per employee incentive would also be applied to all other civilian employees of the Police Department.
As The Star reported Wednesday, the Police Department is the only public safety agency in the metro area that fails to meet national standards for 911 wait times, while paying less to starting call takers than many local agencies.
At the end of 2023, Police Chief Stacey Graves submitted a $328 million budget proposal for the Police Department. That amount is a $44 million increase from the previous year. Additional money would be spent on salary increases for officers, funds for pension, health insurance and computer upgrades, according to the budget proposal.
“The Kansas City Missouri Police Department (KCPD) is the largest law enforcement agency in the state of Missouri, and the region,” Graves wrote in a budget note. “We must remain competitive in our ability to recruit and retain a quality work force. The pay, specifically for law enforcement, must reflect the hazardous conditions with personal risk involved in their service.
“It is also important that their pay echo the value of their service to our City,” she said.
This story was originally published February 7, 2024 at 12:39 PM.