BRUNSWICK, Ga. — The Glynn County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved pay increases and incentives for Glynn County Police Department employees.
Wednesday night, in a presentation to the Glynn County Board of Commissioners police chief Scott Ebner said his department is short-staffed because of burnout and low pay.
Ebner said since June of 2022 more than 40 officers left the department.
He said he currently has about 90 officers but is budgeted for 133. Ebner said he has been able to maintain patrols in the county, but his officers have accumulated a lot of overtime.
Ebner hopes his new tier-based pay and incentive system can help address the problem.
“From my experience and what’s been going on nationally this is going to make a tremendous amount of impact," Ebner said.
Glynn County police officers will see their salary increase by $4,500.
Each tier or year of service comes with a 3% pay increase.
Annual raises will also be given to officers with college degrees.
Ebner feels his system will fairly pay his employees for the work they're doing.
“Now we have officers that aren’t putting in to become supervisors because they don’t want the extra responsibility because they’re not being compensated for the vicarious liability. This changes that dramatically," Ebner said.
Since there’s a shortage of officers, the county says it will be able to cover the pay raises for a few years without raising taxes.
For Ebner and the county, they hope the pay increase can retain and attract more officers.
“These officers need a break they need to be with their family. They need to recuperate," Ebner said.
“Glynn County is a back the blue county and we support our police all our law enforcement agencies here in the county," Glynn County Board of Commissioners chairman, Wayne Neal, said.
The board said the pay increases will take effect in about a month.