Virginia Beach law enforcement could get 8.5% raises — first responders, too — under city budget proposal

Virginia Beach — In addition to a lower real estate tax, significant raises could be on the way for law enforcement, firefighters and EMS first responders in Virginia Beach.

In March, City Manager Patrick Duhaney proposed 3% pay increases in the operating budget for all city employees and 5% for teachers.

But one week before the council is scheduled to vote on the budget, Mayor Bobby Dyer and Vice Mayor Jim Wood indicated they did not think that was enough.

On Tuesday, the duo released an amended budget proposal that included pay increases of 8.5% for sworn public safety workers and 4.5% for all other city workers. The additional pay bump would cost more than $12.4 million, which would be paid for with the general fund reserve.

Wood and Dyer said in a letter that additional pay is needed to recruit and retain the best public safety professionals in today’s competitive job market. Wood initially floated his idea for raises last month, and law enforcement and firefighters spoke in support during council meetings.

For the future, Wood and Dyer suggested dedicating a portion of the real estate tax rate to help cover the additional compensation for public safety employees. Dedicating one cent of the real estate tax to law enforcement salaries would result in a loss in revenue that goes toward public schools, Wood and Dyer said in their letter.

Wood said taking a penny of the dedicated real estate tax rate from schools won’t matter because the schools are getting a lot more money from increased property assessment.

They also recommended:

• Reduce the real estate tax rate to $1 per $100 of assessed value. Doing so would keep the city’s real estate tax rate the lowest in the region and the only city in the area that has proposed lowering the rate this year. Duhaney had already proposed cutting the rate from $1.0175 per $100 of assessed value. Wood said most of the council members told him they wanted to reduce the rate to help taxpayers.
• Providing up to $500,000 to address pay disparity between public defenders and prosecutors in the city. Public defenders earn a starting salary of $53,000, which is about $20,000 less than the lowest paid attorney in the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.
• Dedicating $100,000 to support a law-enforcement civilian oversight body if the council decides to extend audit or investigation powers to its Investigation Review Panel. Councilwoman Sabrina Wooten, a leading advocate of making the citizen review board more powerful, said on Tuesday that $100,000 is not enough money to create an effective police oversight panel.
• Providing an additional $1.1 million to the police department to provide college incentive pay and longevity incentive pay.

Councilman John Moss said he won’t support the budget because he thinks the property tax should be reduced further.

“I cannot vote for a budget that does not include a revenue neutral real estate tax rate,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “A budget that leaves nothing on the table to give back to the taxpayers is a expression of total indifference to the financial hardship that the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed on private employers, private sector workers, and retirees.”

Alissa Skelton, 757-995-9043, alissa.skelton@pilotonline.com