The starting salary for police officers is being increased by the town of Lady Lake. According to town authorities, this new agreement will put the police department at the top of Lake County’s pay scale.
The Police Benevolent Association, the union that represents the Lady Lake police force, and the town commission recently adopted a new contract that offers a base pay of $62,000 year along with a 30% boost overall.
Lady Lake approves pay raise, salary increases for police department:
Lady Lake approves pay raise, salary increases for police department | Click on the image to read the full story https://t.co/r7wIikMru7
— WESH 2 News (@WESH) November 30, 2023
William Lawrence, the town manager of Lady Lake, stated that the department has had trouble keeping officers.
“It’s hard across the nation to recruit people to the law enforcement field, so this is going on everywhere here,” Lawrence stated. “Here in Lady Lake, we have 30 full-time sworn officers, and we’ve been understaffed by four, five, or six officers constantly for about two or three years.”
Police Chief Steven Hunt states that the current strength of the department is approximately 22 officers; however, due to a recent resignation and military leave, that number will drop to 20.
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Officials from the town decided to look at a new compensation plan after seeing what other localities were paying their cops.
“This is a really nice place to be a police officer. We’re part of a community, and it’s a place that people would want to come and work in,” Hunt said. “I don’t know if we messaged that very well in the past, but we’re here to send a message now. It shows support and kind of getting with the times.”