To understand the rift between Atlanta’s public safety officers and City Hall, talk to Corey Kornbacher.
Starting as a recruit for the Atlanta Police Department in 2007, he earned $34,700 a year and took home $1,075.49 every two weeks. Kornbacher’s salary increased when he graduated from police academy, but he was actually netting $16 less due to the cost of benefits, he said.
Now an investigator, the eight-year APD veteran receives only about $100 more than he did when he was a recruit. Why? Because insurance and pension contributions gobble up his paycheck.
“I had to get promoted just to get back to where I was as a recruit,” Kornbacher told members of the Atlanta City Council during a recent meeting. “Y’all look as shocked as I am.”
Kornbacher is among those outraged by Mayor Kasim Reed and the city council’s decision to exclude public safety officers from the latest round of raises awarded to about 3,000 city employees, a slight Reed says is justified because of the police and fire unions’ support for a class-action lawsuit challenging his 2011 pension reform.
The conflict — captured in a billboard the unions posted near I-75 — threatens to undermine Reed’s goal of being remembered as a “public safety mayor.”
Reed is quick to point out that he has spent more money on police and fire than previous mayors, has given them multiple incremental raises and was the first to reach a long-sought goal of 2,000 officers.
But many cops and firefighters say the pay increases they have received — most recently in 2013 — aren’t enough. They say the salary issue puts something else at risk: Their ability to retain talent.
“Everyone’s trying to get out. If you’re a good officer, you’re leaving,” said Joe Layman, a former APD officer who is now in police academy with his wife, another former APD officer, in Aurora, Co.
When Layman left APD earlier this year after a decade on the force, he was earning $44,000. He's making $63,000 as an Aurora recruit — far more than metro Atlanta forces typically pay starting out — and will earn $68,000 when he graduates and $72,000 after one year, he said.
APD’s force size, which briefly hit 2,000 officers in 2013, is in constant flux. According to figures APD provided last week, the force stands at 1,808 sworn officers, with 132 new officers in the pipeline.
Nearly 100 APD officers have resigned so far this year, according to APD. The number is on pace to exceed the average of nearly 130 resignations in 2013 and 2014. That doesn’t include the dozens of officers who retired — a classification that could apply to any officer who quits with at least a decade of service.
Union leaders with the local International Brotherhood of Police Officers also point to figures that show 45 percent of officers hired between 2005 and 2013 have left the force, an exodus they say is masked by new recruits.
Data from Atlanta Fire Rescue show that resignations have doubled in the past two years, with 20 firefighters leaving in fiscal year 2014 and 43 in fiscal year 2015. That’s about 10 percent of the force’s 409 firefighters. About 20 firefighters have retired in each of the past two fiscal years.
“Those are the veterans that you really can’t afford to lose. That’s who the brand new people should gain experience from,” said Stephen Borders, president of the Atlanta Professional Firefighters union. He said he’s contemplating his future with the department, adding his take-home pay as a sergeant is lower than when he was a recruit in 2005.
The mayor, who can’t seem to go anywhere these days without being asked about the matter, says the attrition figures aren’t unusually high, nor do they indicate a growing problem on his watch.
“Our attrition numbers compare favorably to any other period in the last 10 years,” Reed said.
APD, he said, is stronger than ever. “Our force today is bigger than it has ever been in history, so even with all of the issues … we’re still 350 police officers above the highest number ever before I was here.”
He thinks officers leave because of an improving economy that allows for opportunities elsewhere.
APD’s churn is not uncommon among large cities, said Dean Dabney, associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Georgia State.
“The problem in Atlanta is a bit more pronounced, exacerbated by all the new cities that have cropped up,” Dabney said. “You end up with the most experienced officers in the least crime-ridden areas.”
And it comes at a time Atlanta, like many other cities, is seeing an increase in violent crime after historic lows.
Atlanta Police Chief George Turner acknowledges an uptick in attrition, but says it’s still on par with what’s expected on a force APD’s size — about 6 to 7 percent. And it’s down from previous years, he said, when more than 10 percent of officers left annually.
He believes pay is one of the reasons cops are leaving, as well as increased scrutiny on policing nationwide that can harm morale. And while the majority officers remain dedicated to public service, he said, he sees something else at play, too.
“I will say this, we are dealing with a different breed of officers. It’s all about self-benefit and gratification immediately. And so we’re seeing some young officers jumping ship.”
They’re going to smaller departments, he believes, where they might receive a take-home car and earn slightly more a year than they make at APD.
Of course, many officers are quick to point out that Turner has received perks less available to them, including receiving more than $80,000 in a payout in 2013 for unused vacation, money that boosted his pension.
Sgt. Richard Houston, president of APD’s chapter of the Southern States Police Benevolent Association union, told the council at its Aug. 17 meeting that many officers feel unappreciated.
“In talking to a lot of officers, they have a sense that this council and the mayor do not care about them. They have a feeling the mayor does not care about their families,” Houston said.
That opinion is expressed in the nickname many on the force have adopted.
“We all sort of looked at ourselves as bastard stepchildren,” Layman said. “We called it the Atlanta Police Temp Agency.”
Reed has repeatedly said his issue isn’t with the rank and file, but with union leaders who initially supported the 2011 pension reform, then later supported a legal challenge to it, a lawsuit that’s still before the Georgia Supreme Court.
As part of the reform, employees saw a 5 percent increase in their pensions contribution — something Reed said was critical to stabilizing the city’s finances and is ultimately to the employees’ benefit.
Public safety union leaders counter that the class-action lawsuit represented all of the city’s employees, and that some of the municipal employees listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit are among those receiving pay increases.
That hasn’t assuaged Reed, who points out that public safety workers have received raises when other employees haven’t.
“They just want it both ways. They want to sue the taxpayers for $35 to $50 million” while asking for a raise, Reed said, referring to the amount Atlanta would potentially have to shill out in restitution if the city loses the lawsuit. “Fortunately, we have (the money) because we’re not broke anymore … but they’re trying to make us Detroit. That’s exactly what they’re trying to do.”
Now those police and fire union leaders are contemplating a second lawsuit against the city, they say — one that argues Reed is infringing upon their freedom of speech. And they’ve enlisted a national union to help.
“Mayor Reed’s denial of raises in an attempt to influence a lawsuit on a separate matter is a blatant violation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution,” said Harold Schaitberger, General President of the International Association of Fire Fighters. The IAFF is “fully prepared to defend” Atlanta’s firefighters in a legal action, he said.
Public safety groups are waiting to see what becomes of legislation recently proposed by Councilwoman Mary Norwood that would award police and fire a 3.5 percent increase. Norwood — who lost the 2009 mayoral election to Reed by 714 votes — said she believes public safety personnel should receive incremental raises every year.
“We are losing them to other jurisdictions because, in my opinion, we haven’t treated them fairly,” she said.
Reed has already made his feelings on her legislation known. Giving raises amid a costly lawsuit could result in not only paying restitution and undoing the pension reform, but saddling the city with higher public safety salary costs, he said.
“Nothing will happen,” Reed said of her effort.
Turner believes Reed ultimately will grant raises to public safety, though he can’t say when. “I’m confident that in time the attrition numbers, as it relates to people receiving a pay increase, will be dealt with. I’m confident in that.”
About the Author
