Ashville city council approves raises for officers

Published 3:47 pm Tuesday, March 10, 2020

The Ashville city council approved raises for police officers at last Monday night’s council meeting.

Last month, the council voted to reduce their own salaries; however, Mayor Derrick Mostella said this had no correlation to the raises for the police department.

Mostella said, “I have tried to reduce our pay for some time now and an agreement was finally made in regards to that.” The decrease in pay had to be done during a six month window before municipal elections are held.

The mayor’s monthly salary was reduced from $1,500 to $1,100. Council members’ salaries were reduced from $500 a month to $400 each month. The reductions will go into effect in November, after municipal elections.

Mostella said Ashville’s police department has been faced with a large amount of turnover due to pay and it was time to get in line with other municipalities and the county.

The council approved a $2 raise for experienced officers, including full-time certified officers, corporals, sergeants and the chief.

“The total dollar amount that the raises are equal to over a year would come close to being a wash to what the council reduced our pay by,” said Mostella.

Chief of Police Ed Hampton is now making $21 an hour, sergeants will receive $17.50 an hour, corporals now make $17 an hour and full-time certified officers will receive $16.50 an hour.

No change will be made to part-time and uncertified officers.