UPDATE: Redding approves police raises worth $2.1 million and sending more pandemic aid

UPDATE: 8:50 p.m. Tuesday

Saying current recruitment efforts aren't working in part because Redding police salaries aren't keeping pace, the Redding City Council on Tuesday night approved a series of pay raises for its police force.

The council approved a new contract with higher wages by a 4 to 1 vote.

The increases will go into effect starting with a 5% increase on March 7 and end with a 7% increase in September 2022. All told, the raise will total $2.1 million and represent a pay boost of 20.5% for over the period.

The current monthly wage for a Redding police officer classification is $7,717 a month, according to the city. In Shasta County, pay for a sheriff's deputy classification in September 2021 will be $7,835 a month, according to the city.

Police last got a wage increase in January 2017.

The contract for the 79 sworn police officers represented by the Redding Peace Officers Association expired in May.

Council member Julie Winter said that if the city didn't raise police wages as other departments in the region have done, "we're going to be in a very critical position within a year."

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In addition to the current unfilled police jobs, Winter said, about 16 Redding officers are set to retire in the next 12 months.

At the council meeting, Redding Police Chief Bill Schueller told the council that several recent recruitment efforts haven't brought in qualified candidates. Those efforts have included a $7,500 signing bonus for experienced officers looking to make a lateral career move and targeting police agencies that are laying off officers, including Seattle and Portland, he said.

While one recent recruitment effort brought in 34 applicants, Schueller said that none worked out. "We used to get hundreds"  of applicants, he said. "It's a tough recruitment right now." 

With salaries higher for Shasta County sheriff's deputies and police officers in Anderson, Schueller said some Redding officers are interviewing locally for new jobs.

While agreeing that recruitment is a problem for the department, council member Michael Dacquisto was the only council member to vote against the police raises.

"It's not the final bill, because the next thing we're going to hear is the management is going to want an increase ... this is just the beginning," he said.

In other action:

The council also approved a $3 million expenditure to help about 1,600 of REU's neediest residential customers, who'd qualify based on their income and being financially impacted by COVID-19.

Each qualified household would receive about $300.

ORIGINAL STORY:

Redding considers police raises, fresh round of pandemic assistance

Whether to raise police salaries more than 20% by mid-2023 as a recruiting tool to help fill stubborn vacancies on the force will be considered by the Redding City Council at its meeting on Tuesday night.

The council will also decide whether to allocate $3 million in Redding Electric Utility reserves to help residential customers who've been severely hurt by the pandemic to pay their power bills.

Here's more on those two proposals:

Police salary increases proposed

The council will consider a series of salary increases for Redding's police force during its next two-and-a-half-year contract, which extends through September 2023.

The current monthly wage for a Redding police officer classification is $7,717 a month, according to Assistant City Manager and Personnel Director Sheri DeMaagd. The wage rate for the Shasta County sheriff deputy classification in September 2021 will be $7,835 a month, she said.

"In order for the city to remain a competitive employer, retain staff and fill its vacancies, wage increases are necessary," said the staff report.

The current Redding Peace Officers' Association contact expired in May and the union and the city have been in negotiations since October, according to the staff report.

The proposal includes several wage increases that amount to a total increase of 20.5% between now and when the contract ends in September 2023:

• 5% as of March 7
• 1.5% on June 13
• 7% on September 5, 2021
• 7% on September 4, 2022

The new wages would apply to the 79 sworn full-time employees assigned to the department. The bargaining unit represents police recruits, officers, detectives, school resource officers and corporals.

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Officers would pay an additional 5.5% contribution toward their California Public Employees Retirement System pension benefit for a total contribution of 17.5% effective Sept. 4, 2022, according to the staff report.

There are now seven vacant police officer positions, according to the city. Recruitment has proven "very challenging," with few applications and few candidates meeting department requirements, according to the city.

Local agencies that employ police officers pay more than the Redding force, the city's staff report said. In September, without any wage adjustments, a Shasta County sheriff deputy's wage rate will be 1.5% more than Redding's police officer wage rate. In 2022, the wage disparity will reach nearly 7%, the city said.

More:Effort to diffuse mental health crisis encounters behind launch of new police team

Some new positions are also proposed in Redding, including a crisis intervention response team officer, which would be entitled to an hourly wage rate of 5% above the police officer classification. 

The city of Redding and Shasta County are to fund the crisis intervention team, which was still in the process of being finalized as of last week.

The three-member team — all trained to de-escalate encounters at risk of turning violent — is expected to hit the street in April. A Redding police officer and Shasta County sheriff's deputy and a licensed clinical social worker will go out together on police calls involving someone in mental crisis who has a weapon or is threatening violence.

The proposal also calls for pay boosts for Redding officers who are bilingual or complete other professional training.

Council members will officially voice their votes after hearing from city staff at the meeting on Tuesday night.

Alternatives to raises?

On Monday, council member Michael Dacquisto said he hadn't made up his mind on the matter. But he indicated pay raises alone might not solve the police department's recruiting woes.

"I believe as a policy matter, the raises should be lower or non-existent and more effort should be made to recruit more bodies," he said. "What proof is there that giving a raise to every officer will increase the number of officers we can recruit?"

Rather, said Daquisto, the department might try "a different kind of recruiting method" first, possibly including targeting younger recruits or offering loans that don't have to repaid if the officer stays for a certain number of years.

Should enhanced recruitment efforts still not work, that might be the time to consider raises, he said: "I think there are other ideas that you could try that I don't think have been tried."

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Council member Kristen Schreder said paying police salaries below what's offered by neighboring agencies which have approved raises for their officers could mean recruiting trouble for Redding.

"I think we should pay people for the value that we think they offer our community," she said. "If we're competitive in our pay range, then we can be more competitive in getting applicants to Redding."

New round of REU assistance for struggling households?

The council also is considering a $3 million expenditure to help about 1,600 of REU's neediest residential customers, who'd qualify based on their income and being financially impacted by COVID-19, said Joseph Bowers, Electric Manager at REU.

Each qualified household would receive about $300.

On Tuesday, REU will also ask the council for authorization to help its most strapped commercial customers to develop payback plans.

"This isn't where everyone is just going to get a check or a credit on their bill," Bowers said, adding that the city is aiming to get benefits where they're most needed.

The pandemic is projected to extend into the summer, the city said, and already more households with incomes that exceed the low-income guidelines are reporting they need help.

In June 2020, fewer than 400 REU utility accounts were at risk of disconnect. Starting in August, the number began to climb. By the end of last month, the number of REU accounts at risk of disconnect had jumped to just over 1,600, according to REU.

The proposed assistance would take the form of credits and rate discounts for residential customers who are straining to pay their power bills.

More:Redding council OK's $50 rebate to REU customers, urges steady hand tapping REU reserves

By law, 2.85% of REU's revenues annually must be spent on "public benefit programs" which typically include rebates, education outreach program and assistance to low-income residential households. 

Next year, when spending on income-based assistance would continue at its current level, the remainder of the funding would be used to replenish REU's reserves that ended up being paid out this year to economically struggling customers.

The idea, Bowers said, "is that we're borrowing against those future revenues."

He said that "temporarily, reserves would be reduced and then recovered with that special revenue," said Bowers. "We don't have enough to meet the need in the current year and so we're going to use reserves to pay for what we need ... It's temporary in the grand scheme of things."

More:Could Redding Electric Utility customers collect a $200 credit, help with power bills?

REU also wants to join up with other agencies and nonprofits to spread the word about the entire universe of assistance programs available for people impacted by COVID-19, Bowers said. "But we're going to try and really get the word out to people on what they can do to help themselves," he said. 

Tuesday's proposal is the latest effort to help households weather the pandemic.

Last March, the council also approved providing an across-the-board $50 rebate to all 44,000 residential and commercial REU customers. That payment came from REU's share of greenhouse gas emission allowances, under California's cap-and-trade program.

Under state law, cap-and-trade funds can only be distributed to ratepayers or used to reduce pollution. 

The council tapped its cap-and-trade funds again in April 2020, in the form of an additional $200 credit for all REU customers.

Those two payments amounted to $11 million, all from cap-and-trade funds.

If you go

What: Redding City Council meeting

When: 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 2

Where: City Council chambers, 777 Cypress Ave. The chambers will be open only to members of the public who wish to address the council. The meeting will also be livestreamed.

Michele Chandler covers city government and housing issues for the Redding Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. Follow her on Twitter at @MChandler_RS, call her at 530-225-8344 or email her at michele.chandler@redding.com. Please support our entire newsroom's commitment to public service journalism by subscribing today.