Police wages officially increased

With the approval of the Colby city council at Tuesday evening’s meeting, the wages for the area’s police officers and other staff will be officially increased.

The motion which was approved by both the CAPD committee board and the Abbotsford city council prior to Colby’s meeting, will raise the wages of the department’s patrolmen $3.00 per hour over the next three years. The current wages were set to have an increase of 3.5% over the next three years, and this $3.00 bump will be added on after that annual percentage increase.

This will result in an increase from $27.00 to $30.00 in 2022, which will start retroactively to last month’s first pay period, starting on August 7.

The council also accepted the donations from local businesses and individuals for the purpose of increasing police wages. These funds are to be placed into an account dedicated to the payment of wage increases, as well as any additional wage taxes or WRS expenses.

In addition to the increase in patrolmen wages, the wages of the police chief, lieutenant, and police secretary were also to increase by $3.00 per hour.

Colby’s council also agreed to extend the police union contract to the end of 2025, with a wage increase of 3% starting at the beginning of the year. With the $3.00 raise being added to the agreed upon $28.93 per hour wage in 2024, this would set the 2025 hourly wage for CAPD patrolmen at $32.88. All other conditions in the police union contract are to remain the same.

Other Business

n The council also approved the Central Fire & EMS 2023 budget. The budget, which went from an overall total of $621,950 in 2022 to $665,650 in 2023, will result in a 9.4% increase in the city of Colby’s contribution. Cited reasons for the raise include a rise in fuel prices and the fact that the department has started on-call pay for nights and weekends for EMTs. It was noted at the meeting that Colby’s increase could have been more, but some of the new expenses were shifted from the muncipalities and taken from other parts of the budget.

n An alleyway off of Adams Street will be discontinued. The alley in question was located behind several properties along Highway 13 and was not paved and had not been used for such purposes in some time, if ever.

n Community Drive is set to be open for public use starting this week.