Proposal for new Arkansas State Police pay scales gets legislative panel’s backing

Request advances for more parole/probation positions

State Rep. Nelda Speaks, R-Mountain Home, asks a question during a meeting of the Uniform Personnel Classification and Compensation Plan Subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council on Wednesday at the state Capitol in Little Rock.
(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)
State Rep. Nelda Speaks, R-Mountain Home, asks a question during a meeting of the Uniform Personnel Classification and Compensation Plan Subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council on Wednesday at the state Capitol in Little Rock. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)

A legislative panel on Wednesday endorsed the Division of Arkansas State Police's request to create a salary administration grid that would significantly boost the salaries of the state police's uniformed commissioned officers in the coming fiscal year.

The Legislative Council's personnel subcommittee also advanced the Division of Community Correction's request to create more parole/probation officer positions to expand the intensive supervision program in central Arkansas.

Both requests zipped through the Legislative Council's personnel subcommittee Wednesday afternoon with no questions from state lawmakers about either request.

The Legislative Council will consider both requests during its meeting Friday morning. The council also will consider Gov. Asa Hutchinson's request for $1.09 million in one-time state rainy-day funds to expand the Division of Community Correction's intensive supervision program.

In March, Hutchinson signed into law Act 223 of 2022 that would require the Division of Arkansas State Police to implement a salary administration grid, effective July 1, after review by the Legislative Council, in the event "additional general revenue funds become available to the Department of Public Safety, as determined by the chief fiscal officer of the state." At that time, the Republican governor said the measure would increase the starting salary for state troopers from $47,357 to $54,000 a year, making their salaries more regionally competitive.

Regarding the availability of additional funds, the chief fiscal officer's determination will be made later this fiscal year, Department of Finance and Administration spokesman Scott Hardin said Wednesday after the personnel subcommittee's meeting.

In this year's fiscal session, the Legislature and Hutchinson enacted a general revenue budget increasing funding for the Arkansas State Police by $7.4 million to $78.1 million in fiscal 2023, which begins July 1.

Under Act 223 of 2022, all employees in the certified law enforcement officer classifications, including recruits, at the state Department of Public Safety are eligible for the increase provided in the salary administration grid. The grid increase is required to be in addition to any cost-of-living adjustment or performance-based increase provided during fiscal year 2023 under the act.

State Police Salary Grid

The proposed salary administration grid for the Department of Public Safety's Division of Arkansas State Police would create thresholds for each grade, and all troopers who fall below the threshold of their respective grade will be moved to the threshold amount, state personnel administrator Kay Barnhill said in a letter to the Legislative Council's personnel subcommittee co-chairs Sen. David Wallace, R-Leachville, and Rep. David Hillman, R-Almyra.

Upon implementation, each trooper will receive a 0.15% per-year increase based upon each year the employee has been employed in the law enforcement ranks, she wrote.

Corporals will receive an additional one-time in-grade adjustment based upon the number of years as a corporal, Barnhill said. This adjustment will be 0.25% per year as a corporal.

Each sergeant through major also will receive a time-in-grade adjustment of 0.95% per year served in their current grade/classification, she said.

All tenure-based adjustments will use the rate of pay in effect before moving to the threshold rate of pay, Barnhill said.

The threshold will be $54,000 for a trooper, $59,400 for a trooper first class, $67,500 for a corporal, $78,500 for a sergeant, $87,500 for a lieutenant, $98,500 for a captain, and $106,436 for a major in fiscal 2023, she wrote in her letter.

According to Barnhill, the following posts will receive the following average increases, and the lowest and highest increases are as follows:

• Trooper: 145 filled positions with an average increase of $9,719, the lowest increase of $2,541, and the highest increase of $11,766.

• Trooper first-class: 63 filled positions with an average increase of $8,037, the lowest increase of $532 and the highest increase of $11,101.

• Corporal: 220 filled positions with an average increase of $8,740, the lowest increase of $912 and the highest increase of $13,708.

• Sergeant: 66 filed positions with an average increase of $11,402, the lowest increase of $3,940 and the highest increase of $19,584.

• Lieutenant: 26 filled positions with an average increase of $11,073, the lowest increase of $6,177 and the highest increase of $20,949.

• Captain: 19 filled positions with an average increase of $12,100, the lowest increase of $9,304 and the highest increase of $16,653.

• Major: five filled positions with an average increase of $12,024, the lowest increase of $9,445 and the highest increase of $14,002.

Special language in Act 223 would allow for any position receiving the adjustments to exceed the maximum of the current pay plan by up to 20%, and that would affect about 53 employees, Barnhill said.

The Arkansas State Police "would like for this grid to go into effect on July 1, 2022, and will have a total implementation cost of approximately $7,325,520 and has already been built into the budget for fiscal 2023," Barnhill wrote in her letter to Wallace and Hillman.

Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training Salary Grid

In addition, the personnel subcommittee on Wednesday endorsed a proposed salary administration grid for certified law enforcement officers at the Department of Public Safety's Division of Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training.

The grid would establish thresholds for each grade, and all officers who fall below the threshold of their respective grade will be moved to the threshold amount, Barnhill said in the letter to Wallace and Hillman. Once moved to the threshold, each officer will receive a 0.15% per-year increase based upon their years of service with the Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training.

Each officer also will receive a time-in-grade adjustment of 0.95% per year served in the current grade/classification, she said. All tenure-based adjustments will use the rate of pay in effect before moving to the threshold rate of pay.

The threshold will be $76,600 for the deputy director of academy operations and director of standards, $68,648 for supervisors, $61,522 for senior agents, and $55,137 for agents.

According to Barnhill, the following positions will receive the following average increase and the lowest and highest increases are noted:

• Deputy director of academy operations, one filled position with an increase of $15,174.

• Deputy director of standards, one filled position with an increase of $11,364.

• Supervisor: four filled positions with an average increase of $12,689, the lowest increase of $10,553 and highest increase of $16,264.

• Senior agents: six filled positions with an average increase of $8,645, the lowest increase of $6,729 and the highest increase of $10,539.

• Agents: five filled positions with an average increase of $9,044, the lowest increase of $5,886 and the highest increase of $10,159.

The commission "would like for this grid to go into effect on July 1, 2022, and will have a total implementation cost of approximately $263,000 that has already been built into the budget for fiscal year 2023," Barnhill wrote in her letter to Wallace and Hillman.

Intensive Supervision Program

The personnel subcommittee Wednesday recommended the Legislative Council approve the Division of Community Correction's request to create 14 new parole/probation officer positions with a salary range of $46,391 to $58,493 a year.

The division seeks 14 new positions in order to permanently assign the four current officers to the intensive supervision program and add 10 more officers to the program, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Cindy Murphy said.

The intensive supervision team will be assigned to high-risk offenders who have a history of violence or gang affiliation, according to Department of Corrections secretary Solomon Graves.

The goal is to provide evidence-based supervision to high-risk offenders while maintaining maximum oversight, Graves said in a letter to Barnhill. The initial cost to implement expansion is about $1 million and the ongoing funding estimate is about $820,000."

The Division of Community Correction reinstated the supervision program in 2017 after an early morning shooting at Power Ultra Lounge in Little Rock that left more than two dozen people injured.

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