{"id":1063,"date":"2026-06-02T09:04:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T09:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1063"},"modified":"2026-06-02T09:04:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T09:04:20","slug":"charlotte-approves-equal-pay-raises-for-fire-police-departments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1063","title":{"rendered":"Charlotte approves equal pay raises for fire, police departments"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Charlotte fire and police departments will receive equal pay raises next year under a tentative agreement<\/a> approved by the City Council Monday night.<\/p>\n

Read more Rural NC police officer filmed punching woman is now charged with assault<\/a><\/p>\n

Employees in both departments would get 10% raises across the board, a reversal from an earlier draft that would have favored police<\/a> officers.<\/p>\n

The vote is not yet binding. The council will adopt its final budget next week.<\/p>\n

But Mike Feneis, president of the Charlotte chapter<\/a> of the international firefighters union, hailed the vote as a win for his department and the residents it serves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is gonna make some really great changes within public safety to keep the hardworking men and women here in the City of Charlotte,\u201d Feneis said. \u201cIt\u2019s about equity within public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision followed two hours of debate and multiple failed motions \u2014 including a proposal to lower police raises \u2014 as leaders attempted to balance equity concerns with budget constraints.<\/p>\n

The city will rely on a mixture of public safety reallocations and a tax increase to cover the raises.<\/p>\n

City Manager Marcus Jones had already proposed increasing property taxes<\/a> by 1.89 cents per $100 valuation, or about $5.71 per month for the \u201ctypical homeowner.\u201d Every cent will go toward the police and fire departments.<\/p>\n

Firefighters were initially slated for lower raises, receiving 7% compared to 10% for police. Jones used vacancy rates to justify the discrepancy, which he said demonstrated a more dire need to attract officers.<\/p>\n

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The council wasn\u2019t satisfied and voted 10-1 in favor of equal raises.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate that we\u2019re kind of pitting one against the other,\u201d said City Council member Malcolm Graham. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to be here because they\u2019re both valuable, and they both in their own way provide the type of safety net that our community needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The higher fire department raises would put Charlotte more than $4.4 million over Jones\u2019 original proposal.<\/p>\n

To compensate, the budget will likely eliminate three new field technician jobs that were planned for the fire department, saving about $366,000; strike $1.86 million in safety technology investments such as upgrades to the automated dispatch system; and cut back a proposed increase to fire overtime pay by $2.2 million.<\/p>\n

Fire Chief Reginald Johnson<\/a> told the council he can sleep at night with those cuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur number one priority is making sure we have pay parity with CMPD,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThere\u2019s some questions as to how (the cuts) will impact us. We will work through those.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fire department has \u201csubstantially exceeded\u201d its budgeted overtime amounts in recent years, according to the city. It ran $5 million over budget in fiscal year 2024 and $7.3 million over budget in fiscal year 2025.<\/p>\n

The initial budget proposal would have increased the overtime pay amount by $4.1 million. The council\u2019s vote on Monday will likely slash that increase to less than $2 million, which is still higher than years past but remains below recent spending levels.<\/p>\n

Read more New 1,000-capacity concert venue coming to South End Charlotte. When & what to know<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The City Council agreed to 10% raises for both the Charlotte Fire Department and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department under new budget revisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nCharlotte approves equal pay raises for fire, police departments - \u0421harlotte Relocation Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1063\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Charlotte approves equal pay raises for fire, police departments - 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