City Boosts 911 Operator Pay By 26%

Faced with a staffing shortage, the City of Milwaukee is boosting the pay for its 911 operators by as much as 26%.

According to a Feb. 22 report from the Department of Employee Relations, 14 of the 24 positions in the Milwaukee Fire Department‘s 911 operator segment are vacant. In the Milwaukee Police Department, 22 of the 137 positions are vacant.

“Both fire and police have had trouble with recruiting and retaining these 911 dispatchers and 911 telecommunicators,” said human resources manager Andrea Knickerbocker. “It’s having a great impact on the employees that are there because they end up being mandated [overtime] and working longer shifts.”

Pay for the starting position of 911 telecommunicator was previously $44,192.46. It is now being boosted to $55,760.90 (a 26% increase). The higher-level 911 dispatcher job will see its starting pay go from $49,637.90 to $64,125.10 (up 29%). City residents receive an extra 3% on top of the new rates.

Applications open Friday for the telecommunicator position. Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson signed the pay increase into law Wednesday morning, following the Common Council’s unanimous adoption of the change on Tuesday.

“We’re in a competitive marketplace to hire the best people, so we’re boosting pay for our employees who handle these emergency calls by more than 20% per year,” said Johnson at a press conference at City Hall.

The pay increase comes as the city is still working to deploy an entirely new 911 system. The current process involves all calls first going to the police dispatch center, with fire calls being transferred. The new system aims to allow a single responder to carry the entire call.

Instead of separate staffing by the fire and police departments, a new Department of Emergency Communications is being created within the Fire & Police Commission to house a unified call center.

“That is an ongoing process that is going to take place throughout this year,” said FPC executive director Leon W. Todd, III.

A director of the department still needs to be hired said Todd. A new computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system also needs to be installed. The FPC director said the changes, originally planned for 2021, would happen in phases this year.

The new CAD system will allow dispatchers to see units in the area and assign specific squads to respond. It will also allow connections to bordering 911 centers without requiring a separate line.

Officials in then-Mayor Tom Barrett‘s administration had previously said the new system would be cheaper to operate. Alderman Michael Murphy asked if that was still true on Feb. 22 when the Finance & Personnel Committee reviewed the pay increases.

“Likely no,” said budget director Dennis Yaccarino. “We will become more efficient because fire and police dispatchers will be able to dispatch all calls.” He said this should help the city reach the national standard of answering 90% of calls within 10 seconds.

But the growing call volume, said Yaccarino, is requiring more personnel. The raises will also make them more costly. “At this point, it looks like the cost of [the raises] is going to be about $1.4 million,” he told the committee. The city fielded approximately 173,000 calls for service in 2019, the last year for which a figure is readily available.

City human resources director Makda Fessahaye said reducing employee turnover would save money in terms of reducing ongoing training costs.

The city will also save money because the management positions on the police side will no longer be filled by sworn personnel, who retire earlier and have more costly pensions.

“There will be pockets of savings in certain areas like that,” said Yaccarino.

Murphy suggested that staffing shortages make the job tougher for those who remain and that the low pay has made the city a training ground for suburban 911 centers.

“And I would say less stressful positions,” said Knickerbocker of another reason why people go elsewhere.

“It seems to be a common thread running through the Finance & Personnel Committee this morning that we’re not keeping up with the ability to compensate our employees compared to our competitors,” said Murphy. Given the city’s existing fiscal issues, he said the city needs outside help from the state or the situation will get worse.

Hiring information will be posted on the FPC website. The city is also hiring new police officers.