LANDIS — Landis officials approved the public safety director’s request to increase officer pay by 10 percent during Monday’s board meeting.

The matter was initially approved when the Landis Board of Alderman met with town staff on March 31 to begin preliminary discussions about upcoming budget sessions. Monday night’s reading finalized the change.

Like many municipalities, Landis needs help with employee retention in its public safety department.

Interim Public Safety Director Kevin Young presented an officer retention proposal that would give all current full-time employees of the Landis Police Department, from the rank of police officer 1 through sergeant, a 10 percent pay increase starting at the beginning of the next pay period.

Young pointed out that the town budgeted for a workforce of 12 full-time positions yet only had seven sworn officers to fill them. A frozen position in the budget equates to approximately $60,000 annually. The board voted unanimously in favor of this proposal.

A memo from Landis Town Clerk Madison Stegall indicated that administrators with the town felt the 10 percent raise was appropriate.

“I found that other municipalities have a separate pay grade classification for their police and fire departments,” the memo read. “With the 10 percent increase, I felt that was the appropriate time to separate the scales. The regular Town of Landis scale remained the same, but the police classification scale increased by 10 percent.”