Joplin eyes more police officers, higher salaries under sales tax plan
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How Joplin spends millions of dollars in voter-approved sales tax revenue will headline a City Council work session Monday night.
City leaders will review implementation of the city's half-cent police and fire sales tax, including a plan to increase employee salaries and shift millions of dollars in existing public safety expenses into the new tax fund.
Under the spending plan, police and fire pay scales would increase by 23.03%, while the pay scale for other city employees would rise by 12%.
Starting salaries for Joplin police officers would climb from $42,449 to $52,223. Starting pay for firefighter/EMTs would be set at $47,000.
To help finance the raises, the city proposes transferring the expenses of 37 existing public safety employees to the new sales tax fund. That would free up general fund money to help pay for raises across other city departments.
The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant would cover a portion of the cost of six new firefighters over three years.
The extra funding could allow Joplin to hire nine police officers sooner than originally projected, with three added in 2027, three in 2028, and three more in 2029.
The updated five-year sales tax spending projection includes millions of dollars for a replacement Fire Station No. 3, emergency vehicles, police equipment and other public safety improvements.
Monday's work session begins at 5:45 p.m. in the City Council chambers at 602 S. Main St.
