During the recession, state troopers, game wardens, fire marshals and other law enforcement workers saw their cost-of-living increases and merit pay raises frozen. Since then, federal law enforcement staffers and even some local officers have seen their pay increased, and that’s made it difficult for the state agencies to fill vacant positions.
The Legislature is now considering a proposal from Gov. Paul LePage that would grant state officers raises ranging from 12 to 18 percent. Supporters turned out at the State House to make their case to the Appropriations Committee.
Marine Patrol Col. Jonathan Cornish says he’s having a problem filling positions in southern Maine, where some local law enforcement agencies pay several dollars an hour more than his department can offer.
“In the fall and early winter of 2015 we lost five officers over a three month span,” he says. “Keep in mind I have 49 positions. Three of those officers went to municipal departments with better pay.”
The Maine State Police, meanwhile, have 44 current vacancies, and 20 staffers who are eligible to retire by July 1 of this year. Col. Robert Williams says he is worried about the number of troopers that could leave the force for better pay.
In fact, Trooper Dane Wing told the committee that he has always wanted to serve in the Maine State Police, like his grandfather. But after five years on the force, Wing says he needs to make more money to care for his family.
“As of 4 o’clock, I will be meeting with the colonel and I will be giving up my dream of being a Maine state trooper,” he says. “I have decided to resign from the Maine State Police and accept a better-paying position with the Department of Homeland Security.”
Wing says he decided to testify on the bill so that other troopers will not have to give up their dream of serving in the Maine State Police.
Darian Nadeau, a senior at Unity College, works as a reserve deputy sheriff in Waldo County to help pay his tuition. He says he’d like to become a game warden, but makes more per hour at that part-time job.
“If I were to graduate college after going for four years and having all those expenditures and achieve my goal of becoming a Maine game warden, I would take over a $1 pay cut,” he says. “After all of that, and having $300 a month in student loans.”
Because of the vacancies in all of the agencies, the state has been paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime to keep shifts covered. For many, that overtime has offset the nearly stagnant base pay.
But Aaron Turcotte, president of the troopers union, says members would rather not have to rack up so much overtime.
“Contrary to what some may believe, many troopers do not want to work the extraordinary hours they have been working,” he says. “They have families and lives outside of their career.”
Williams says the pay increase and the expected reduction in vacancies will have an effect on that overtime.
“Well, it certainly will have an effect on overtime,” he says. “Are we going to eliminate overtime in the state police? Never.”
This bill would take about $1 million from the fund set aside to pay for salary adjustments to pay for the increases through July 1, 2017. LePage has pledged to put money in his next two-year budget to continue those raises.
