The Edgewood Town Commission postponed discussion on police pay increases to an upcoming budget workshop as the elected leaders and the department work to find solutions.
The commission was scheduled to discuss the proposed pay increases during its meeting Tuesday evening, but the item was removed from the agenda at the start of the meeting.
The police department has asked to eliminate one open officer position and use the money from those savings to increase pay. However, commissioners have requested more information from the police department as to why the pay increase is needed.
“We want to explore some other options that actually give us some more flexibility,” Commissioner Mike Rariden said during the meeting.
The topic will likely be placed on a future agenda following the budget workshop to allow the commissioners to publicly vote on whether to increase pay.
The issue arose when the police department noted a significant decrease in how much money it initially expected to have in terms of a budget and what it now anticipates.
The commission met several times for budget workshops before the interim budget for fiscal year 2026 was due to the state. The first workshops occurred in April and the department was anticipating enough money to give officers pay raises while also hiring a 21st officer. By the time the end of May rolled around, the department realized it would not have the money to do both. The pay increase that the police department is now proposing — $2.83 an hour per officer — is smaller than the initial raises of around $10 an hour that were discussed earlier in the year.
The proposal to hold off on hiring another police officer and instead disperse that money among the other officers comes in an effort to retain the officers that are currently serving the town of Edgewood.
This change caught commissioners off guard and the police department has previously indicated that it needs to fill the open police officer position. The request for pay increases comes as the police department has also said that it needs an increase in its overtime budget.