Dallas leaders approve police and fire pay raises
DALLAS - The Dallas City Council approved a 5 percent pay raise for police officers and firefighters on Wednesday.
Police associations wanted a 10 percent raise for newer officers and 5 percent raises for senior officers. At $44,000 a year, the starting salary for Dallas officers is significantly lower than other big cities in North Texas. The issue became more urgent after the deadly shooting on July 7.
Councilman Lee Kleinman, who has advocated for lower taxes, pointed out all of the city’s new revenue from higher property values will be going to the police and firefighter raises. That’s an estimated $60 million.
“It’s not going for arts, libraries, rec center hours, code compliance, dogs. It’s not going for homeless or all the litany of things we need to do in the city. We’re making a choice here to take all of the tax increase passing onto the citizens and putting it to public safety,” he said.
Kleinman still voted in favor of the raises.
The city is still negotiating with police and fire associations. They could come to a new deal that could include higher pay for starting officers. It would be presented at the city council meeting next month.
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