Tuscumbia police, fire chiefs discuss pay with Council

The issue of pay for Tuscumbia’s first responders returned to the forefront at the June 15 meeting of the city council.

Interim Police Chief Steven Higginbotham and Fire Chief J.T. Fox presented Council members with a potential new pay scale that includes increased pay after a certain amount of time with the department.

“We have a proposal from fire department and police department on a pay scale that would not only incentivize people to stay longer, but to get recruits to actually come here to begin with,” Higginbotham said.

“I have been employed here for 19 years, and the only way we get raises is if we are promoted. After about three years, you are stuck with cost-of-living raises, and only when the city gives those. When I first started here, there was a 12-year period when we didn’t get anything. I don’t know why most of us stayed, but we did.”

The current Council initially gave city employees a 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment in the latest budget, but that was later amended to a 3 percent COLA.

Besides COLAs, neither the fire nor police department have received a substantial raise since 2024, when two unfilled positions within the police department were cut in order to take the budgeted funds and pass them out among the other employees.

One of the biggest issues Fox and Higginbotham said face their departments is retention.

According to the Alabama Fire College, it costs $1,250 for a trainee to go through the course and get certified.

The Law Enforcement Academy in Tuscaloosa charges $500 per basic training course.

These figures do not include the cost of other things like necessary certifications and other expenses involved in training a new employee.

According to information provided by the departments, Tuscumbia Fire has lost 55 people over the last 13 years, while Tuscumbia Police has lost over 45 employees in the last 19 years.

Higginbotham told the Council on at least one occasion the fire department lost a recruit before the potential new hire even left the academy.

The reason for the number of lost employees usually boils down to pay.

For years, Tuscumbia has offered lower pay than many other departments, both locally and farther across northern Alabama.

“I have had guys leave my department to start out making what I make as a department head here,” Fox said.

Council member Jennifer Bennetch said she had asked to sit down with Mayor T.W. Billings to evaluate a potential pay plan, but due to scheduling conflicts that meeting did not occur before the June 15 meeting.

Council member Sidney Nall asked to be a part of the meeting, saying, “We’ve got to do something to keep these guys here.”

Council member Len Gregory discussed a plan to offer hazard pay for city fire and police in line with what state employees like troopers make, but Fox said that proposal would not “bridge the gap” in pay between Tuscumbia and other municipal departments.

Council member Roderick Metcalf brought up comp time the first responders get, saying it can be built up to a lot of money the city is required to pay.

“They build it up, retire and we’re obligated to pay that out,” Metcalf said. “We have to keep some funds available for that because you never know when they are going to go out.”

Fox said his department is so short staffed the employees “can’t even take their comp time.”

Higginbotham told the Council he did not intend to request any action on the measure during that particular meeting but hoped something could be done by next month’s meetings.