No matter where you look throughout the State of Florida, municipalities and counties are dealing with wage issues relating to law enforcement professionals. The City of Fort Myers, Sanford, Duval County, and right here on Marco Island, the discussions are all about being able to retain or hire new officers to patrol their streets.
The Marco Island Police Department is lacking six full-time officers, and after more than six months of looking, they were finally able to hire a solely needed Captain to fill the role of handling the patrol and investigative unit of the department, hiring Captain David Ennis earlier this month.
Many agencies across Florida are finding the need to pay “sign-on bonuses” to potential candidates. That stipend may be on the table as the city struggles to lure properly credentialed officers to the small island department in the future. Many city personnel managers point out the ever-increasing costs of training new officers as it relates to recruiting, testing, uniforms and equipment. Those costs can run upwards of $60,000 to $100,000 out of pocket per new hire when all are accounted for.
The Marco Island Police Union and the City’s Administrative staff have begun negotiations for their next two-year contract, and City Manager Michael McNees was upfront last Thursday when he addressed the Police Union’s Negotiating Staff and characterized the issues before the two sides as “challenging.” He said that the city staff and council were aware of those challenges as they prepared to move into the budgeting cycle for the next year.
Recently, both the City of Naples and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office have had to work through similar challenges which has placed the Marco Department in a competitive hiring position. Couple that with the high cost of living here in Southwest Florida and the growing demand for officers throughout Collier and Lee Counties, will present continued hiring competition between agencies both here and on the east coast of Florida.
The next bargaining meeting is scheduled for May 23 at 2:00 PM in the City Hall Conference Room and it is open to the public.
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