City manager says Wilmington’s new budget could boost police staffing

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WWAY) — Wilmington’s new $350 million budget takes effect July 1, bringing a property tax increase that city leaders say is largely aimed at improving pay for first responders and strengthening public safety.

The budget includes a 4.9-cent increase to the city’s property tax rate per $100 of assessed property value, representing a 17.3% increase.

City Manager Becky Hawke said boosting salaries for police officers was one of her top priorities after taking office last year.

According to Hawke, roughly 70% of the new spending for police and fire operations is dedicated to increased compensation for first responders.

The budget raises the city’s minimum starting salary to more than $45,000 and provides a 19.3% pay increase for more than 745 police officers and firefighters. It also funds free mental health services for first responders.

“So that given some of the things that they have to deal with in their line of work, that they are able to have the support that they need,” Hawke said.

Hawke said their could be a correlation between increasing police pay and addressing downtown crime.

“Hard to say if there is causation, we do know that we are certainly down in our police department numbers, and it’s very important for us to get those numbers back up. I feel like we are going to be able to do that with this budget and with these new salaries,” she said.

In addition to increased personnel costs, Hawke said the city was surprised by a significant increase in employee health insurance costs during the budget process.

“And that went up $3.5 million just on its own, which was a 14 percent increase for us,” she said.

The budget does not include funding for a proposed downtown homeless shelter, though Hawke said the city continues to evaluate potential funding sources as plans move forward.

“We have some pots of money that once the right path forward is identified depending on what that is some of those pots of money have certain strings or requirements on how they can be used,” Hawke said.

Although the budget takes effect next week, Hawke said planning for the following fiscal year will begin soon.

“We start worrying about this sooner rather than later. It’s June, we start worrying about next year’s budget come August, so tiny break but we will be right back at it before we know it,” she said.