Amid public calls to reduce police spending, Winston-Salem City Council has agreed to give the city's police and firefighters a raise. The move was one of several budget actions the council took Monday night after receiving new coronavirus relief funds.
The federal CARES act funding freed up $2.7 million in the city's budget, and the council agreed to split the savings four ways.
One million will go into the city's reserve account, which had been depleted by $9.5 million to balance this year's budget. Another million is earmarked for the Community Equity Investment Fund, which was established to support anti-poverty initiatives. A citizen committee will decide how exactly to distribute the fund this fall.
About $160,000 will go towards boosting the minimum wage for city employees to $14.31 per hour. The remainder of the $2.7 million will fund a 1 percent salary increase for police and firefighters.
During the meeting's public comment period, several speakers objected to measures related to law enforcement spending and called for budget cuts. Many referenced John Neville, a black man who died last December after being restrained by officers at the Forsyth County Detention Center.
Councilmember Dan Besse, who proposed the new budget actions, says he supports calls for police reform, but that raises are needed to retain high-quality officers.
“It's important for us to recognize that two things can be true at once. There is a need for more investment in Winston-Salem and around the country in community equity efforts to help address the underlying causes of crime and poverty,” said Besse. “There is also a need to make sure that we don't, in the process, undercut our ability to have good community-oriented, responsible law enforcement in our city.”
Mayor Pro Tem D.D. Adams suggested her vote for the plan was a kind of compromise.
“I have been very supportive and a proponent of raising the wage of the lowest-paid employees of the city of Winston-Salem,” said Adams. “Sometimes to get what you want or need the most...you got to do a balancing act.”
The motion passed 7-1. Only Councilmember Robert Clark voted against it, saying the pandemic has made future city revenue too unpredictable to justify giving out any raises.