TEXT OF CHARTER AMENDMENT
Section 12.14. Compensation for Essential Employees of the Police Department. The monetary compensation directly payable to essential employees employed by the Saint Paul Police Department shall be among the top five in comparison to the monetary compensation directly payable to essential employees employed by a comparison group consisting of the Minneapolis Police Department and the police departments of all metropolitan area suburbs who have a population of at least 25,000 and who perform the same or substantially similar job duties. “Essential employee” means an essential employee as defined by Minnesota Statutes Section 179A.03, subdivision 7. “Monetary compensation directly payable” means “salary” as defined by Minnesota Statutes Section 353.01, subdivision 10; but excluding clothing and equipment allowances, overtime, shift differential, compensation payable for the performance of a special assignment or special duties, and other forms of compensation that are not payable to all or substantially all other employees in the same job classification with the same years of service. The comparison of monetary compensation directly payable to employees of the comparison group departments shall be made each year based on the rates of compensation in effect as of July 1 each year and shall be based on the sum of the monetary compensation directly payable to an employee in his/her first year of service and an employee of each successive year of service thereafter up through and including an employee in his/her thirtieth (30th) year of service.

SUMMARY OF AMENDMENT
The City of St. Paul has failed and refused to acknowledge the importance of providing competitive wages to its police officers. By any objective measure, the St. Paul police officers should be the highest or second highest paid officers in the State. The St. Paul Police Chief is the second highest paid chief. The Mayor is the second highest paid mayor. St. Paul has the second highest rates of crime and violent crime and the second highest number of calls for police service. St. Paul and Minneapolis police officers are more at risk to be killed or injured in the line of duty than any other officers in the State. Despite these statistics, the compensation of a St. Paul police officer is below the average when compared to officers from Minneapolis and suburbs larger than 25,000 in population. St. Paul has the finest police department in the State. Its officers are highly qualified, highly trained and highly professional. However, because of the refusal of the City of St. Paul to maintain competitive wages, the ability of the St. Paul Police Department to attract and retain the best officers is now in serious jeopardy. The purpose of the proposed amendment is to require the City of St. Paul to compensate its police officers at the level that is at least among the top five in the metro area. By petitioning to amend the Charter in this fashion, the voters of St. Paul can make the commitment to St. Paul officers and the St. Paul Police Department that the St. Paul elected officials have refused to make.

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