Police officers and firefighters in Chesterton say a lack of raises and low pay makes it difficult to recruit and retain first responders, but town officials say an unexpected budget shortfall of hundreds of thousands of dollars from a clerical error made giving raises to first responders this year and next impossible.
The matter came to a head during a recent town council meeting on the town’s salary ordinance for the coming year, which included some increases for the street and municipal separate storm sewer system departments, but none for the rest of the town’s employees.
“No one on the council intended to short anybody raises but we had to do what we had to do,” said Council President James Ton, R-1. “We’re at the end of a detour but we’re looking at getting back on the highway in January and we can address these issues at that time.”
That isn’t enough to appease the police and fire departments, where representatives said they are investing money to train and suit up new recruits, only to have them go elsewhere for higher pay and the potential to move up in responsibility.
Ton said police officers and firefighters have received a total of 7 percent in salary increases in recent years and the town council made additional salary adjustments, but Police Lt. Joe Christian said the raises don’t even meet cost of living adjustments.
“We want to be paid for what we’re doing, yes, but the major equation here is we hire them, train them and they leave,” he said, adding Chesterton lost two officers earlier this year to Lake Station and Hobart. “The ability for us to attract and keep highly trained officers is not good.”
Fire Chief John Jarka said his department lost two firefighters to Portage who left for advancement possibilities and better wages and benefits.
“The initial cost to get them onto a department is just under $2,000, just to be eligible to hire them,” he said, adding that includes physical and psychological exams necessary to qualify for the state’s Public Employee Retirement Fund.
The starting pay for a probationary firefighter is $36,354. That goes up to $43,770.80 after the first year of probation ends.
Chesterton is unique in that the fire department is a combination of career firefighters and volunteers, making it difficult to compare wages with departments of similar sizes, Jarka said, but the job is the same regardless.
“If it would be possible, we surely should be competitive in our neighborhood because when you’re not competitive with your neighbor, you will surely lose,” he said.
The budget for this year was short by $900,000, including just under $800,000 for the general fund, which pays police and fire salaries, because of a miscalculation by Clerk-Treasurer Stephanie Kuziela involving bond issues for road paving, the parks and the municipal complex.
The result was that the town’s budget was too low, Kuziela said, adding the state Department of Local Government Finance contacted her about the error in early January. She reached out to state officials and the town’s financial advisors in Indianapolis but the budget couldn’t be changed.
The news, Kuziela said, “was absolutely heartbreaking.”
The mistake, Ton said, was an act of omission, and the funds remained in the pockets of taxpayers because the error meant their tax rates dipped slightly.
“No one did anything with evil intent or malfeasance, so we decided to roll up our sleeves and go from there,” he said.
By early spring, Kuziela and the town council had come up with a four-point plan to shore up the budget without cutting services. That plan included tapping into monies from the town’s cigarette tax and riverboat casino fund, as well as reserves from the previous year’s general fund.
“And the fourth one was we were going to have to decline to give any raises for this year,” Ton said, adding the matter was addressed at a public meeting in early April, after town officials had the plan together.
The few raises for the coming year were necessary because the pay was so low, the posts were empty, Ton and Kuziela said. That included part-time positions for leaf collection and engineers for the MS4 department.
That’s little comfort to the police and fire departments, where officials said the hit to the town’s general fund hit them the hardest.
“It’s evident we lose good people because when we lose good people, they advance in their careers in their field (in other departments),” Jarka said. “It’s impacting the ability to give raises in the future.”
Ton and Kuziela are hopeful that, once Chesterton gets through 2018, town officials will be able to offer raises for 2019. They’re looking at their options, they said, but declined to provide details.
“We do have a plan to make it a much happier year and a much more agreeable year,” Ton said.
Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
