ROANOKE, Va. – This fiscal year, the City of Roanoke is investing an additional $5.4 million towards salary raises for first responders.
In the city budget approved on Monday by City Council, it included a raise for the Roanoke Police Department, Roanoke Sheriff’s Office and Roanoke Fire-EMS Department.
The goal is to attract more people to come work in Roanoke.
“The raise is going to make us competitive in the jurisdictions around us. We have not necessarily been competitive in the past couple of years so that’s made it hard to recruit in the city. Obviously, if other jurisdictions are paying more, they are going to get more recruits, more sign-ons,” said Roanoke Police Academy Director, Susanna Camp.
The current starting salary for a Roanoke Police officer is $42,500. With the recent budget approval, the new starting pay will be $49,555.
“We need to adapt to today’s workforce. And I believe with this new salary we are trying to reach that,” said Roanoke Police Recruiter, Nicholas Comas.
The Roanoke Sherriff’s Office will also be getting a boost. Changing their starting salary from $42,000 to $44,800.
Roanoke Fire-EMS will go from a starting pay of $43,800 to $47,150.
“Right now, everyone is fighting for the same number of people. Roanoke County., Salem, Botetourt, Franklin, Bedford. And we have to be more competitive because a lot of the workforce is looking at numbers,” said Roanoke Fire-EMS Chief David Hoback.
While this increase is a step in the right direction, Hoback believes there is more work to be done to adjust the department’s step plan.