Evening star., 1953-06-02
Police Groups
Hit Data Used
For Pay Raise
Give Detailed Reply
To Budget Bureau;
Seek IS Pct. Ruise


To Budget Bureau;
Seek IS Pet. Ruise
The Policemen's Association
charged today that the Budget
Bureau based its proposal for an
8 per cent pay raise for District
police and f1remen on "incom-
plete or inaccurate" information.
A detailed reply to the Budget
Bureau was to be handed to
Chairman Case of the Senate
District Committee by Pvt. Royce
L. GivenS, chairman of the asso-
ciation's legislative committee. AT
the same time. a team of Metro
politan. White House and Park
Police set out to present the as
sociation's statement to all mem
berS of the Senate District Conf
mittee.
simultaneously, the Fireman's
Association gave the Senate Dis
trict Committee it's protest,
charging that the Budget Bu-
reau's arguments appear to be
thinly veiled efforts to project
the administration economy drive
at the expense of a small seq
ment of workers already floun-
dering in the living cost flood" I"
Both associations are fighting
for the House-passed Kearns-Beal
bill. which would provide about
a IS per cent pay raise. The
Commissioners had proposed a
10 per cent raise, and the Bud
get Bureau recently came out for
and eight per cent raise.
Reasons Listed.
The police association gave
these reasons for calling the
Budget Bureaus data incomplete
or inaccurate:
/. The bureau based it's COM
parison of salaries paid here
! and elsewhere on the starting
or rookie wage, rather than the
top salary of a first grade pri-
Vate. The usual comparison,
used by all police departments,
the National Conference of Po-
lice Associations and the Fra
>ternal Order of Police, is based
on the top pay of privates. If
the Budget Bureau had used
the top grade of private, it would
have shown that the District
advances its men much more
slowly than in other places.
2. The Budget Bureau based
its salary data on year-old re-
ports of the City Managers As
sociation. Salary scale informa-
ton gathered by the association
and current to March l of this
year shows the District is now
18th in salary scale among the
18 largest citieS-although WASH
ington has the highest cost of
living listed in the last annual
report of the Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
8. The Budget Bureau said the
cost of the Kearns-Beall bill
would appear to exceed reve-
nues available for meeting it"
District Budget Office Walter
Fowler told a House Appropria-
tions subcommittee, however,
that the District had sufficient
revenue to meet the proposed
increase in the 1854 budget.
Other Cities Compared.
4. The Budget Bureau seeks
to peg the District salary scale
at the "median point in the SAL
ary range of other big cities"
Even after the eight per cent
raise proposed by the Budget
Bureau. police still would be in
the position where half the big
cities would still be Offering
higher wage scales to their police
and f1remen. Police here still
would be unable to recruit new
men of good quality or to hold
men attracted by higher pay in
other cities.
S. The Budget Bureau was
under the mistaken impression
that the Washington police
force was only IA men below
strength. Actually, the force is
220 short of full strength since
Congress Topped off appropri-
ations for the salary of 206 men.
6. In considering total avail
able revenue. the Budget Bureau
failed to compare the percentage
OF the city's budget spent here
on police protection compared
with the average spent in other
cities. A study of Large City
Finances of 1851" published by
the Census Bureau, shows that
the Al largest cities spent an
average of 10.4 per cent of their
total revenue on police services.
In fiscal 1851, the District al
lotted police 7 per cent of the
total revenue. and in fiscal 1853,
only SO per cent was allotted for
police services.
Put City in 18th Place.
The firemen also came I'D with
statistics comparing wage scales
for fire fighters here with those
Of other cities.
Where Washington was fourth
in salary scale for firemen
among the 18 largest cities in
1910, the f1remen reported, it is
now in the "unenviable position"
of being 18th.
The flremen also showed sta
tiStically that thier salaries have
increased since 1910 by 73 per
cent while increases of fire fight
erS in other cities range up to
1861 per cent. The average for
the 18 largest cities, the associa-
ton added, is an increase of 94,7
per cent-more than 81 per cent
greater than increases given fire
fighters here.
Now, the association said, "a
cities pay their fire fighters more
than Washington. The firemen