ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 9, 1996 TAG: 9604090076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: What's on your mind?
SOURCE: ray reed
Q: Why do librarians or other city or county workers get paid more than police officers? Librarians cannot protect us. I understand there are educational differences, but it doesn't make sense to me.
T.G., Roanoke
A: Let's understand one point up front: What follows is not an attempt to measure the human value of one job over another. It is a brief explanation of how salaries are set.
The educational requirements in municipal jobs vary greatly. Yet, schooling is only one factor in setting a pay scale.
Police officers and firefighters in Roanoke start at $23,460, and they're required to have a high-school diploma or the educational equivalent. An associate degree in police or social science is preferred.
A librarian with a master's degree in library science starts one pay grade higher (grade 11) at $24,888. A library associate with a bachelor's degree starts at $19,213 in the city.
If they stay in those jobs, they'll advance annually at merit-pay rates approved by City Council.
How are these salaries determined? Richard Zody, professor of urban affairs and planning at Virginia Tech, provided some information on how cities decide what to pay.
Localities may hire consultants to look at compensation paid by other cities similar to Roanoke in Virginia and surrounding states.
Knowledge, skills and abilities needed for a position are evaluated, and the amounts paid for them in comparable cities is listed.
Then, a city tries to set its pay high enough to retain the people it has trained, but not higher than the market rate in other places.
The risk inherent in a job may be a factor in deciding its pay level, but risk is hard to measure.
Who is injured more often: police officers, firefighters or sanitation workers? Probably the sanitation workers, who lift heavy objects.
Who has the highest stress? Probably the police officer, but stress is doubly hard to measure and varies from one individual to another.
Measurements of the work determine pay - in theory, at least. Local politics may vary the salary for a given job by $1,000 or so.
Labor supply - the number of people who want a job - is another factor.
A worker can improve his or her situation by looking for work elsewhere after a few years.
Universities may pay librarians more. State police benefits may be more attractive than a local department's. And sometimes a nearby city may need a younger sergeant or lieutenant on its police force.
Police work has attained mobility in recent years.
Training provided by city police departments, plus the education degrees attached to promotion requirements, can lead to better jobs elsewhere if a police officer is willing to move.
This mobility is enhanced when officers work for departments that have earned national certification.
Education and experience are the key qualifications in job shopping.
Have a question about something that might affect other people, too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Give us a call at 981-3118, or e-mail us at RoatimesInfi.Net. Maybe we can find the answer.|
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