Mooresville police and fire departments push for pay raises as they lose employees to neighboring departments

MOORESVILLE, Ind. — Both the Mooresville Police Department and the Mooresville Fire Department are struggling with staffing shortages, which their leaders attribute to many people moving on to higher-paying jobs.

“We get people that we hire. We spend about $10,000 per person. And then if they don’t make enough and see that another agency is there within 10 minutes and making $70,000 a year, then we lose them,” said Police Chief Kerry Buckner.

Buckner said his department’s base salary is just under $58,000, well below the $72,000 in nearby Martinsville or the $70,000 in Danville. Even the Mooresville school system’s police department starts at $65,700.

The situation is similar in the fire department, where the base salary is set at $56,450, compared to $72,500 in Martinsville or $78,000 in White River Township.

Buckner was forced to team up with Fire Chief Matt Dalton and ask the City Council for raises.

“I need help,” Buckner said at the meeting Tuesday night. “I need you to help me raise money or develop strategies to get a raise.”

Buckner told the council that his department lost five officers and still managed to make it work, but he said that was not sustainable.

“IMPD, where I’m from, is short 500 to 600 officers. That’s a lot of officers,” Buckner said. “When you have a lot of people, it’s not so bad, but when you have 22 officers, losing five is a big deal.”

The staffing situation forced Buckner to operate some shifts with the bare minimum staffing, and it was more difficult for the fire department to respond quickly to some fires because they had to wait for the fire department to arrive to assist.

“Things are more expensive, like every year,” Buckner said. “You have to keep up with the cost of living.”

Buckner and Dalton are asking the council to increase salaries by at least 10%, which would cost $130,881.95 for police and $88,171.29 for fire.

The city council seems to support the idea of ​​a pay raise. Where the money will come from, however, is a major hurdle.

These questions will be discussed in budget workshops scheduled to begin next week.