Dagsboro OKs wage increases for employees

Town Council hopes for more funding for police facility

By Glenn Rolfe
Posted 6/22/22

DAGSBORO — In anticipation of residential and business growth, the town is banking on state and locally generated funding for a new police headquarters.

Additionally, leaders support efforts to retain police officers and town employees.

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Dagsboro OKs wage increases for employees

Town Council hopes for more funding for police facility

Posted

DAGSBORO — In anticipation of residential and business growth, the town is banking on state and locally generated funding for a new police headquarters.

Additionally, leaders support efforts to retain police officers and town employees.

Those were the plans outlined Monday, as Town Council agreed to utilize a portion of its $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding to support wage increases for Town Hall administration and full-time police personnel.

Raises begin with a 20% across-the-board increase for fiscal year 2023, effective July 1.

Dagsboro’s three-year plan, ironed out by town administrator Cindi Brought and DPD Sgt. Nicholas Disciullo, includes 3% salary hikes in fiscal years 2024 and 2025. These increases will also be covered by ARPA funds.

After that, it’s up to the town to bear the cost.

“Retention is No. 1,” said Sgt. Disciullo. “Right now, you just can’t (get) anyone to work the jobs. So we thought that rewarding the people who have been here and who have been doing the work through the thick and thin are the ones who deserve to be benefited. We would love to be able to keep the people that we have, and Cindi would like to keep the people that she has.”

Regardless of some concern about the future, council’s vote was 4-0 in backing the proposal.

“I guess I am concerned, after the third year, where that money is going to come from for the increases because we are going to have two new police officers and larger salaries,” Councilwoman Theresa Ulrich said. “I would hate, after the third or fourth year, we have to say, ‘Well, we have to let a police officer go.’”

Councilman Will Labor added, “I think we should totally figure out how to make sure that our salaries are competitive. After the three years, the projections for what we are expecting in growth, will that match what we think will be the deficit after the budget ends after the three years?”

Ms. Brought replied that she believes so.

“We are expecting growth. We already know some of those developments are definitely going to happen. They are not huge developments. I foresee a lot of new businesses coming in.”

Councilman William Chandler III, who participated in the meeting by phone, also expressed some reservation.

“Right now, you are using the ARPA funds,” he said. “That’s great. You’ve got to use them, and I am happy to use them this way as any other way. I just have a little bit of a worry, given the macro- and microeconomic conditions. I just think we should go into it with eyes wide open.”

Police department goals are retention, recruitment, competitive pay and longevity. The force has four full-timers: Chief Steven Flood, Sgt. Disciullo, Cpl. Anthony Valenti and Cpl. Noah Glaeser.

Sgt. Disciullo said Dagsboro’s department developed a new pay scale “based on competitiveness with other departments of our size, so that we can compete with new recruit hiring.”

Under the proposal, with years of service required for rank eligibility, the 20% increase ups salaries to $57,283 for patrolmen first class, $63,648 for corporals, $68,598 for sergeants and $80,308 for the chief.

Funding for an additional full-time officer is in the town’s 2023 budget, which council also approved Monday. In addition, a portion of the town’s ARPA funding will be used for another officer, giving the agency six.

At Town Hall, there will be an additional full-time employee, upgraded from part-time status. The town administrator’s revised salary is $67,200; the clerk/administrative assistant will earn $45,600; and the finance employee’s salary will be $37,440.

The town began considering the wage option following a May 16 letter from the U.S. deputy secretary of the Treasury to ARPA’s State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds recipients. The letter urged these governments to continue to use the funds to “confront the most pressing challenges that our economy and communities face: expanding the workforce and providing competitive wages; expanding access to affordable housing; and keeping families and communities safe.”

Meanwhile, town leaders have fingers crossed for an additional $400,000 in the 2023 bond bill for a new police station. The town received $492,000 in such monies last year. With approval, and the sale of town-owned property, funding for the police station would be $940,364.

But the proposed construction would likely exceed $1 million, Ms. Brought said.

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