Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 24, 1995 TAG: 9503240136
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Jimmy Manard loved his job as a Roanoke County police officer. And he loved the Roanoke Valley. The friendliness of the community and serenity of the Blue Ridge Mountains were exactly what he wanted for his family.
But in February, Manard resigned. After four years in uniform, he was making $23,000. He said he simply couldn't afford to work for the county.
``I didn't look to get rich as a police officer, but I also didn't look to get poor,'' said Manard, who came to the county with seven years' experience with a Northern Virginia police department.
Manard said he and his family qualified for food stamps. Two of his three children could have received free lunches at school. His wife joined a food cooperative to make ends meet.
Det. Rick Moorer has been on the force 16 years. He graduated from the Forensics Science Academy in Virginia, was named county officer of the year in 1993, and for the past decade has worked on most of the county's major homicides.
He is paid $29,889 a year - less than a detective hired five years after him.
But while Manard decided to leave, Moorer has stayed. He's fighting for better pay for himself - and his fellow officers.
In 1993, Moorer questioned his pay before the county's grievance panel, saying that detectives with less seniority had been granted pay increases that catapulted them above his salary. The panel denied his claim, and Moorer took the matter to court.
Tuesday, Moorer's attorney filed a motion to dismiss the case. Because of a legal technicality, Moorer must take his request for monetary damages, including a salary adjustment and back pay, to the Board of Supervisors before he can go to court. He plans to do just that.
County Administrator Elmer Hodge says increasing Moorer's salary would cause inequities for other county employees in Moorer's job classification.
``There's nothing I wouldn't do to help the guy,'' Hodge said. ``But if we take care of this situation, the problem is we'd have 200 more out there like it. Do I take all employees and re-create their salaries?''
The pay disparities are not limited to the Police Department. They can be found throughout county departments, according to county officials.
``I'm well aware of our people's concerns, but I don't know it's just our people,'' said Police Chief John Cease, who says he does not negotiate wages for his employees.
Hodge admits there are cases where county employees are underpaid for the work they do. He says the county did a salary survey in 1992 and is attempting to raise every employee to market level.
Sparked by Moorer's case, police officers have rallied around the pay issue for the first time. They talk about disparities that have befuddled them for years; individual salaries that were increased only after the threat of a lawsuit; and a pay plan that has, in part, caused a high turnover rate.
Many officers say the county does not want to pay for the Police Department it established in 1990. Most agreed to speak candidly for this story only if their names were not used, because they fear reprisal.
``I'm making $24,000 a year and hoping I don't have to buy four new tires for my car, because then I can't pay my mortgage,'' said one officer who has been with the department for five years. ``I'm working to survive.''
``If you complain about your pay, they'll fix yours and no one else's,'' another officer said.
The arguments are not new. In 1989, when the Sheriff's Office still handled law enforcement, Timothy Lisk, who's now a detective, and others brought their pay concerns to Hodge. The salaries of Lisk and two others were increased, but only after they threatened to file suit.
Even now, pay disparities in the department continue. According to 1994 salary records obtained by the Roanoke Times & World-News, some supervising officers are making less than those below them.
In one instance, an officer hired 12 years ago, who's now a sergeant, makes about the same as a road officer hired eight years ago and another road officer hired nearly 20 years ago. Each makes between $27,000 and $28,000.
Newer officers say they barely make more than recruits fresh out of the police academy because the county continues to bump up starting pay.
Veteran officers say that, even though the county keeps raising maximum pay, they feel they are stuck in the middle and can never reach the top of the scale.
``To tell me I'll never reach the top - if you're a new guy, you get smacked in the face with that and you're gone,'' said one officer. ``You know the goal is unattainable.''
Of 90 sworn police officers, only 12 - including Cease - make near the top range of their pay scale. That reality has hurt morale, say some. And while it has not affected performance, it has made younger officers wary of staying with the department.
According to the county's Human Resources Department, the police turnover rate has remained around 8 percent since the 1992-93 fiscal year. Since October, six more officers have left.
Thursday, another handed in his resignation.
The turnover has left some shifts with fewer experienced officers.
Pay is not the sole reason for each resignation, but it is a big factor.
Officers also say some county officials' arrogance about the pay disparity has forced some to leave. Richard Goodman, a road officer with Roanoke County for two years, left after he heard a county board member remark that, if officers wanted better pay, they could leave. Goodman did just that, taking a job with the Salem Police Department.
``I couldn't work for someone who didn't believe in supporting me and my family,'' he said. ``When you're brand new and making the same thing as someone who's been there 10 years, you realize the system is not fair.''
This week, Hodge instructed one of his assistant administrators to work with Moorer to find a solution that will not cause more pay inequities within the county. But that is unlikely, given the structure of the county's pay plan.
Each county employee is categorized under one of 35 pay grades. Each grade consists of a salary range, with a minimum, midpoint and maximum figure. County officials say the midpoint is the job's market value.
Police officers are spread among several pay grades. Hodge says that to remedy Moorer's situation, he would have to raise all salaries within the detective's pay-grade - which includes a solid-waste operations supervisor, a parks maintenance supervisor and a branch librarian.
Hodge said he inherited many pay problems when he came to Roanoke County a decade ago. In the former Sheriff's Office, deputies were being paid at different rates, by different methods. Some were paid by the state, others by the county.
``We made changes where we could within the sheriff's department,'' he said. ``I said let's agree that this will be the end of it. We changed about 25 people. That was to be the review to end all reviews.
``With Rick's case, his was about the time we drew the line. There are literally hundreds of others like him. If we change Rick and not the others, we create inequities elsewhere.''
Before Jimmy Manard left the Police Department, he was asked how much money he would need to stay. His answer: $5,000. Now he makes a little more than $30,000 with the Air National Guard in Washington, D.C., close to $10,000 more than he was earning in Roanoke County.
``The overall feeling of the county government is that they care less about officers' concerns and welfare,'' he said. ``They didn't care if we had to beg for food.''
by CNB