NBC 4 Investigates: Reducing Salaries To Avoid City Layoffs?

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- In less than a week, Columbus voters will vote: more taxes or fewer city services?

The half-percent income tax hike would cost you an extra $50 each year for every $10,000 a year in salary.

Mayor Michael Coleman and other city leaders have said that's what it may take to save the jobs of hundreds of police officers and firefighters.

But could the city avoid the layoffs by reducing salaries?

They put themselves in harm's way each day and for many, police officers and firefighters can never be paid enough.

"When they put their lives on the line for our community, I think they should get as much as they can get," said Pat Rader, an area resident.

But not all Columbus residents are as generous.

"For a veteran officer, I'd say $55,000 a year would be good for him," said Troy Foster, an area resident.

The average pay for a Columbus police officer or firefighter is more than $63,000 per year -- before healthcare and retirement benefits.

The conservative-leaning Buckeye Institute said that in 2008, 1,766 police and fire employees made more than $75,000 in total compensation.

Two-hundred-seventy-one police and fire employees earned more than six figures, making more than $100,000.

"I think they're getting paid too much," said Adam Piccenti, an area resident.

"I think that's too much," Foster said.

"I think that's something that the average person doesn't realize -- how much money is really going into these salaries," said Lynn Walsh, of The Buckeye Institute.

A 2007 salary study by police compensation consultants www.PolicePay.net found that over a 30-year career, a Columbus police officer would average more money than officers in Ohio's other major cities: $5,000 more than Toledo, $8,000 more than Cincinnati, $10,000 more than Dayton and roughly $17,000 more than Akron and Cleveland.

"I can tell you right now, myself and the deputy chiefs have all taken a pay cut this year because we have five furlough days. The rest of that is all contractual. Those are negotiated benefits with the Fraternal Order of Police and the City of Columbus," said Columbus Police Chief Walter Distelzweig.

"Maybe it's time to make some sacrifices," Walsh said.

Walsh points to the median household income in Columbus for comparison.

In 2007, a city economic advisory committee pegged the median household income at just more than $42,000.

The average salary for civilian city employees is $3,000 more.

Inside the mayor's office, the ten highest-paid employees combined to collect more than $1 million in pay in 2008 -- each earning more than $75,000. That includes the mayor's salary of $158,302 -- which is more than the average sale price of a Central Ohio home in April.

"People are paid according to their level of experience and sometimes when you're competing with the private sector to run a $1.2 billion operation, you need to get people that know what they're doing," Coleman said.

Coleman tells residents who earn far less than the average city employee but are being asked to increase their own income tax that the city is aggressively working to put salaries and benefits in line with the market over the next ten years.

Coleman, who dismisses The Buckeye Institute's views as partisan attacks, hopes voters heading to the polls Tuesday are patient in seeing results.

"As you know, they're contracts. It's not going to happen overnight," Coleman said. "(Salaries) have already gone down 2 percent this year. We've had hundreds of layoffs. We've had furloughs."

POLICE, FIRE REPRESENTATIVES RESPOND TO SALARY REPORT

Police officers are speaking out about their salaries and the median household income in Columbus.

The average pay for a city police officer or firefighter is more than $63,000 each year -- before benefits.

Police pay is above Ohio's other major cities, but the heads of both the police and firefighters unions said those numbers don't tell the entire story.

Columbus police officers may average a higher pay over their careers than counterparts in Cleveland or Dayton, but Fraternal Order of Police local chapter President Jim Gilbert argues a better comparison is the suburbs.

"Columbus police officers are not even in the top ten in Franklin County as far as top pay for police," Gilbert said.

Gilbert said Columbus officers rank 11th for locally for top pay -- behind cities like Gahanna, Upper Arlington and Worthington.

Those figures, though, don't include overtime for emergencies and court appearances -- an area that Gilbert acknowledges makes a big difference -- helping more than 900 Columbus Division of Police employees earn more than $75,000 last year.

"There's no way getting around it. When you need a police officer at 11 a.m. who just got off at 6 a.m. to be in uniform and in court, ready to testify," Gilbert said.

Firefighter Union President Jack Reall made a similar case for firefighters, saying they voluntarily gave up a 4 percent pay increase in 2009 and are forced to work overtime due to being short-staffed.

More than 800 fire division employees made more than $75,000 last year. Reall also said comparing city workers' income to the median household income isn't a fair comparison, because it includes families who are unemployed.

Gilbert said police officers haven't had a pay raise since 2007 and in 2008, three officers were shot while on duty and one officer was stabbed in the face.

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