Lakeland reaches deal to increase police officers' pay to address hiring, retention issues

Lakeland officials have struck a deal to increase pay for the city's unionized police officers in an attempt to address the department's issues with hiring and retention.

City commissioners voted unanimously Monday to approve a Memorandum of Understanding with the Fraternal Order of Police's Lakeland Lodge 185, which represents Lakeland Police Department's officers, sergeants and lieutenants. It will increase wages while extending the union's contract by two years.

"Just last week, we had members of our police department who were shot at multiple times," City Manager Shawn Sherrouse said. "It is a difficult, heroic profession they work in. We need to be as a competitive now as we've ever been."

In December 2022, the police union agreed to a three-year contract with the city that would have provided a 1% across-the-board raise to members or would have matched the pay raise given to Lakeland's general employees if it was higher.

Under the new memorandum, members of the police union will receive a one-time market adjustment on Sept. 30 to help address pay compression issues. Current employees will be given credit for each continuous year of service in their current job classification, and those with prior law enforcement experience can be credited for up to five years.

"These adjustments are based on a market-study analysis performed internally by city staff and agreed to by the FOP," Sherrouse said.

On Oct. 1, the unionized police employees will all receive a 1% across-the-board increase, or a "me-too" match if a higher percentage is given to the city's non-bargaining-unit general employees. In addition, they will be eligible to receive one of three merit-based raises based on their job title:

• Officers: 3% merit increase to Step 8, 2.5% merit increase from Step 8 to max.
• Sergeants: 3% merit increase up to Step 3, or 2.5% merit increase from Step 3 to max.
• Lieutenants: 3% merit increase for Steps 1 and 2, 2.5% merit increase to Steps 3 and 4.

The following two years, all union members will receive a similar 1% across-the-board pay increase or a "me-too" raise matching the city's non-bargaining-unit general employees. The merit-based increases will be structured identically to this year, giving a slightly bigger merit-based pay raise to employees below the midpoint of their pay scale.

"We are much more competitive at the mid-point than below the mid-point with other law enforcement agencies," Sherrouse said.

By April 15, 2026, the city has agreed to complete another pay study looking at Lakeland Police Department's wages in comparison to others, a list Sherrouse said the city and union have finally agreed upon. If the median wages of the other comparable agencies is more than 6% above the city's median wage, the police contract can be reopened to renegotiate wages but no other issues.

Chief Sam Taylor was hopeful the increased wages will help fill some of the open positions in the department. In recent budget discussions, Taylor said there were approximately six job openings with the budget to hire an additional five officers in the upcoming year.

"I'm hopeful with this proposal that it will help us hire some of the veteran officers I have talked to you about. That way, we won't have so many 22-, 23-year-old rookie police officers running around out there," Taylor said. "With this contract, it also makes your police officers' starting pay the highest in the county."

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lakeland reaches deal to increase police officers' pay to address hiring, retention issues