At their meeting on Wednesday night, the Atlantic City Council passed a resolution for a Revenue Purpose Statement for a Natural Gas Service Franchise Fee.  The new fee will fund Atlantic Police Department pay increases.

Atlantic City Administrator John Lund said the Personnel and Finance Committee had a meeting in April to discuss personnel and pay issues with the Atlantic PD. They found that during the current union agreement the wages for a senior officer were $1.70 less per hour than the average wage of a pool of similar population communities. The committee felt this doesn’t make Atlantic competitive in the job market.

In order to boost wages, Lund proposed a 13-step wage schedule that will follow each year of service. Lund said the ten-year cost of the proposal will be a total of $533,696. The annual cost will range from $31,121 to $58,017 depending on retention of officers.

Lund said putting a five-percent natural gas franchise fee in place was the best way to pay for the increases. He said the committee also felt that revenue would make the city less dependent on property taxes to fund the PD and other city departments.

Alliant Energy customers will see an average bill increase of $4 per month. The franchise fee will replace the city’s local option sales tax that is currently charged to Alliant customers.