Collective bargaining investments bring Scarborough to the brink of full employment
When the Scarborough began negotiating with its four unions in the spring of 2024, many groups’ wages had fallen behind our neighboring communities. As a result, the town was struggling to fill key frontline positions in both public works and the police department. Wage studies performed at the time found that the starting pay for our entry-level positions was 3% to 8% below regional averages, and 11% to 24% below the highest paid municipal competition.
Prior to the ratification of the agreements, the town had upward of 10 vacancies across those two departments. The positions notably included patrol officers and emergency dispatchers, essential public safety staff, and public works maintenance workers who are responsible for plowing and maintaining our public roadways. The vacancies not only resulted in increased overtime pay, but also added strain and stress to the existing workforce.
The agreements that took effect on July 1, 2024, implemented necessary salary investments to facilitate the effective recruitment of new staff and to better retain our highly valued existing employees. Starting wages brought Scarborough within 1% of the regional average for public works and nearly 12% over the regional average for our emergency dispatchers. The agreements with our fire and police unions resulted in wages 4% to 6% above the regional average. While the advancements were well supported and investments significant, Scarborough still lagged behind the highest paid departments and agencies by as much as 10%.
Fast forward 12 months, and we are in a decidedly different place.
The police department reached full staffing earlier this spring for the first time in many years, and included the recruitment of multiple experienced and trained officers from other agencies. With two recent graduates of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy returning to the road this past month, we will have the most robust patrol staffing in many years, allowing for more community involvement and proactive policing, which our community has consistently expressed as being a priority.
At one point, public works was down nearly a quarter of its road maintenance crew and experienced at least three vacancies for more than 18 months. As of this spring, our street maintenance division is now fully staffed. Filling these vacancies allows us to decrease our reliance on outside contractors and allows employees greater flexibility during the winter season; an atypical benefit which is lucrative in the effort to recruit and retain.
Following the ratification of the dispatch agreement, two employees returned to the dispatch center full-time. The center is now on the cusp of being full staffed for the first time in well over three years.
The fire department has been the outlier in many respects, with lower overall turnover. When vacancies have materialized, we have quickly been able to fill them with qualified applicants from robust applicant pools.
Over the last two community-wide surveys, our staff have received exceptionally high marks with the 2023 survey indicating 93% of the community satisfied with public safety services and 89% of the community satisfied with the customer services received from town employees. As we reach full employment we expect to maintain these high marks in the upcoming 2025 community survey due to launch this fall.
As we note every municipal budget season, we are in the people business and the quality of our business is directly related to the quality of our staff. The investments through our collective bargaining agreements have allowed us to move closer to full employment than we have been in many years which will undoubtedly improve the already well regarded municipal services. This, coupled with the staffing investments in the upcoming fiscal year, will allow us to improve these essential services for the entire community.
Liam Gallagher is director of human resources and assistant town manager for Scarborough. He can be reached at [email protected].
