Jonesboro is sweetening the pot for new police hires, bumping the starting salary for newly sworn officers to $60,000 a year, up from about $53,472.84. Mayor Donya Sartor and the City Council also approved across-the-board raises for full-time sworn officers in an effort to curb turnover, ease pay compression and hold onto experienced staff in a tight metro-Atlanta job market.
Council vote and official explanation
Police Chief C.E. Cato told WSB-TV the jump from a starting salary of $53,472.84 to $60,000 is a "targeted investment in law enforcement personnel" meant to shore up recruitment. He said the city is staring down a "shrinking pool of qualified applicants" and wants the new pay scale to both attract fresh recruits and keep seasoned officers from jumping to neighboring departments.
How the city will pay for it
According to the City of Jonesboro meeting minutes, a Mercer compensation study found that moving many city pay ranges to the 50th percentile would cost around $289,000 a year. Within that figure, raising police starting pay by roughly $5,000 per patrol position would set a $60,000 floor for 12 patrol slots. The minutes note that interest earnings from the city’s Georgia One Fund, estimated at about $130,000 annually, along with other budget adjustments, could cover a significant share of the added expense.
Part of a wider hiring push
Jonesboro is not alone in trying to buy its way out of staffing headaches. Around the region, suburban agencies are hiking pay and piling on incentives to cut vacancies and reduce overtime. In neighboring DeKalb County, officials recently approved a $10 million boost for police salaries and technology, part of a broader push to make departments more competitive in recruiting and retention. Local leaders say higher entry pay and signing bonuses are now basic tools for drawing both laterals and new academy grads.
Jonesboro officials emphasized that the across-the-board raises were designed to prevent pay compression, a sore spot in many departments when entry-level pay rises but veteran salaries barely budge. Cato called the package a "deliberate and comprehensive effort" to maintain an experienced, well-supported force, according to WSB-TV.
The council signed off on the measures at its meeting this week. City officials said the fine print, including implementation details and effective dates, will appear in upcoming payroll and budget documents. This story will be updated if the city releases an ordinance or formal press statement with additional information.
