Fargo aims to increase police, fire salaries from public safety sales tax revenue

FARGO — Fargo leaders are planning to use the recently passed public safety sales tax to restructure its pay for all police and fire employees.

All fire and police department employees will receive at least a 3% market increase in pay, along with a 4% cost-of-living increase starting July 7.

On Wednesday, May 14, city leaders met to discuss a proposed plan for how the city will use the income expected to be generated by the quarter-cent public safety sales tax approved by voters on Nov. 5.

"This is really about a balanced and unified approach," Fargo City Administrator Michael Redlinger said.

The Fargo Fire Department requested to use the sales tax money to boost employee retention, grow staffing numbers and improve facilities. Fargo’s firefighters had decried pay scales that they deemed inadequate to retain staff since 2023.
Meanwhile, police wanted to build a new headquarters, add substations throughout the city, hire new staff and start a regional law enforcement training facility.

Redlinger said the fire department pay structure was last revamped in 2018, although "micro-adjustments" such as cost-of-living increases have been made, adding community growth has also outpaced the city's ability to meet staffing needs of the Fargo Police Department.

"We just have not had the revenues, frankly, to be able to invest in everything at the same time," Redlinger said.

The sales tax was implemented on April 1. Fargo Finance Director Susan Thompson said Fargo expects the sales tax to generate about $8.5 million in revenue each year, which is expected to increase about 2% each year. By year 10, the city expects to collect $11.7 million.

City leaders presented a plan Wednesday outlining how the sales tax revenue will be spent in 2025 and 2026, starting with pay levels and position pay in both the fire and police departments. There will be an average 7% market adjustment for firefighter salaries and a 5% market adjustment for police. Thompson said all sworn employees will see at least a 3% market adjustment. The pay changes would occur July 7, the first payday of July.
The increase will be on top of the 4% COLA increase commissioners approved for all city employees as part of its 2025 budget.

Jill Minette, human resources director for the city, said Fargo has about 330 public safety employees, about 30% of the city's workforce. There are currently 192 police employees and 138 fire employees.

Under the proposed plan, all sworn employees would receive a market adjustment based on the pay plan and their years of service. This means, in some cases, employees may only see a small increase if they have not been in the position for very long or if their salary is already near the market value.

Chris Flynn / The Forum

Fargo partnered with MRA, a salary analysis consulting firm, to examine how Fargo public safety salaries compare across the region. MRA surveyed other North Dakota cities, as well as those in Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska.

MRA Compensation Director Christy Reetz said each sworn rank has its own pay range in both departments, but the salary scales are different for public safety than they are for other city employees.

Fargo offers a $58,706 entry-level firefighter salary, and the top salary is about $79,789. The regional market average for entry-level firefighters is $64,300, and the top pay regionally is about $87,900. MRA proposes that the entry-level firefighter's salary be increased to about $68,250 and that the top step of a firefighter's annual salary should be $87,100.

Reetz said there has been concern regarding pay overlay between supervisors and subordinates, which the proposed pay structure using sales tax money will address. The proposed budget will also allow the sales tax to fund seven additional firefighters and one non-sworn fire employee.

Fire Chief Steven Dirksen said six people would be hired in 2025 to be added to the downtown station. Dirksen said the department has an aging alert system he wants to replace at all eight fire stations. He is also looking at replacing the department's training facility, which was built in 1966, adding it would likely cost more to repair it than to replace it.
In 2026, one more firefighter and a fire data analyst would be added for a total of 149 fire personnel.

Fargo City Commissioner Michelle Turnberg noted the firefighters' push to share information about the vote before the sales tax passed.

"We wouldn't even be sitting here if there wasn't a group of firefighters who spent their own money, went door to door and encouraged voters," Turnberg said. "I would like to see if this aligns with what they were hoping for. They have an expectation and I just want to know if we are meeting that."

Following the proposal outline, the roughly two dozen fire personnel in attendance appeared pleased. A group of fire personnel privately met with Turnberg and a second commissioner after the public meeting.
Dirksen said the proposal had been shared with employees before Wednesday and he received mostly positive feedback.

MRA found that an entry-level Fargo police officer is paid about $63,350, and Fargo's top step is $93,700. The regional average is $70,534 for starting officers and $99,800 for the top step. Police lieutenants are paid between $93,100 and $132,200.
MRA proposed increasing the entry-level police officer salary to about $70,000 per year and the top step to $98,497. Police lieutenant salaries would increase to $131,995 to $144,235.

Police Chief Dave Zibolski said he wants to add nine officers in 2025 and 2026 and two non-sworn positions.

Zibolski said the newly sworn officers are expected in 2026 to allow time for recruits to finish the academy. In 2026, the police department would hire three new lieutenants, one sergeant, five officers and one police wellness coordinator. Zibolski said all five new officers would be assigned to neighborhood community policing positions Fargo has not added in a long time.

"This will be the first group of new officers in many years that will bolster the neighborhood services," he said.

Zibolski also plans to purchase new vehicles for officers, or one new car for every three officers. The proposal also allocates sales tax money to purchase mobile police vehicle barriers, as well as equip a motorcycle unit and improve the police headquarters crime center. Body camera enhancements, such as software that allows for translation, are also being considered.

The 20-year public safety sales tax will sunset on March 31, 2045.

"Every year going forward, about this time of the year, the City Commission is going to be asked every year for thoughtful consideration of how to use those funds," Redlinger said.

Additional public sales tax revenue will be used for debt service funding, or paying off loans that were used for such items as building loans or bonds the city has used to pay for projects.

About $375,000 in sales tax revenue would be used for fire department capital funding, and about $1 million for police. City Commissioner John Strand said centralizing a dispatch system should be considered, possibly before spending sales tax money on debt service. He also asked for additional spending history to be presented before commissioners vote on the proposal at their Tuesday, May 27, meeting.

"In my head, debt service should be moved over to the general fund, maybe, because it's already there," Strand said.

The public safety sales tax budget will be approved separately from the city's annual budget. The city will begin its general 2026 budgeting process in July. A preliminary city budget must be submitted to Cass County by Aug. 11.