BECKLEY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Members of the Beckley City Council convened Tuesday evening for their regular session at which law enforcement compensation was a key topic of discussion.
The meeting’s agenda, announced last week by the City of Beckley, otherwise featured little in the way of variation from the standard docket items of old and new business, approval of minutes etc.
An increase in pay for local law enforcement has long been a significant topic of discussion locally, and Tuesday’s meeting would see consideration of a “$2,500 across the board pay increase” for sworn members of the Beckley Police Department.
During Tuesday’s session, a motion was presented by Councilman Robert Dunlap for the proposed raise to be approved for $8,000, over three times the originally proposed amount of $2,500. This proposal saw support from Councilman at Large Cody Reedy.
Mayor Rappold questioned the sustainability of this change, engaging City of Beckley Chief Financial Officer Billy Trump, who was quick to point out the financial implications of the proposal and expressed frustration at the suggestion not having been revealed to Council members beforehand.
“I really wish the members of Council would have just sat down, and we could have talked and looked at the budget a little more carefully [to] understand the repercussions of this motion. Because there are going to be some significant repercussions,” said the CFO. “There’s going to be some problems meeting the city pension obligation and several other things are going to have to be put off. If you don’t want to rely on my expertise, then I don’t have any business being here.”
Trump indicated that such a change would in fact increase the Beckley Police Department budget by at least10% and would increase the over city budget by no less than half a million dollars.
Dunlap made an effort to smooth things over, emphasizing the value of the statistics and knowledge brought to the table by Trump with regard to the formulation of the notion.
“I want make sure it’s clear your expertise were so appreciated, and these financials you provided me of everyone’s salaries; they absolutely went into my analysis as well as the other budgets you provided that showed that in prior years we did we did have finances available for certain capital expenditures that were major.”
It was ultimately determined that the issue of the raise in general would be tabled for a later date which was not determined during the meeting. While a request was made of Mayor Rappold to ensure that the proposal would appear on the next City Council agenda, Rappold indicated that he could not make certain of that but that Council would “shoot for” that development.
