Nevada City Police Department plans to hire three with $510,000 federal grant

Photo by Bob Lickter Nevada City Police Chief Lou Trovato hopes to have the new officers hired by Dec. 31.

According to the budget worksheet that is part of the grant proposal, the police officers will earn an annual salary of $41,328 and receive $32,346 in benefits, $2,732 for supplies and another $1,300 for a category called “other.” Overall, the annual compensation is $76,406, which is considered an entry-level pay grade.

A detailed breakout on the grant proposals can be found in the November edition of the Nevada City Advocate, your free community newspaper that is found in many locations in Nevada City, Grass Valley and the San Juan Ridge.

By Pat Butler

Nevada City Advocate

 The Nevada City Police Department has received $510,000 in federal stimulus money that will be used to fill two vacant positions and add one position to the eight-man force.

 Police Chief Lou Trovato said he plans to hire two police officers and a records supervisor by the end of the year.

 “The grant will help us through lean times, when money is short,” he said.

 In the past year, the city has frozen open positions and required all city employees to take eight-hour furloughs a month as it watches its sales-tax revenue decline. In addition, Trovato’s grant proposal said the department has loaned one officer to the “countywide Narcotics Task Force.”

  One of the police officers will fill a new position and both officers will be hired at what is considered an entry-level pay grade.

  According to the budget worksheet, they will earn an annual salary of $41,328 and receive $32,346 in benefits, $2,732 for supplies and another $1,300 for a category called “other.” Overall, the total annual compensation is $76,406.

  The records supervisor will start with a salary of $34,716 and benefits that total $21,471 along with $800 for the “other” category. Overall, the total compensation is $56,187.

 The grant also provides funds to end furloughs in the police department.

 The City Council voted to accept the two-year grant at its Oct. 27 meeting although questions were raised about whether the city would be obligated to retain the new police officer once the grant funds are exhausted.

  The police chief stated at the meeting and in a separate interview later that Nevada City will not be obligated to retain the new officer although he acknowledged that “they like you to keep them if you can.”

  “If things don’t turn around in two years, we’re all going to be in a world of hurt,” Trovato said. “I hope we can keep them and hire five more people.”

  Almost all of the American Recovery Act money is going toward salaries and benefits, according to a worksheet that Trovato included as part of the grant proposal.

  Of the $510,090 grant, $279,274 goes to “personnel/salary costs” and $207,504 is for benefits, which includes contributions for Social Security, Medicare and health insurance. The remaining money goes to travel ($12,448), supplies ($7,464) and other ($3,400).

 Trovato expects scores of applications for the jobs. He plans to post the openings in early November and to notify finalists by the middle of December. If all goes according to plan, the police chief wants to make the final job offers by Dec. 31.