Knoxville Police Chief Aaron Fuller made his budget proposal to the Knoxville City Council Monday night. He is proposing a 12 percent wage increase for his department. Fuller made it known that when compared to other communities in comparable size to Knoxville, the wages here are very low.

Knoxville is currently ending a 5-year union contract with the police department. A lot has changed in five years according to Knoxville City Manager Heather Ussery. In looking at comparables Knoxville is one of if not the lowest in wages.

Fuller tells KNIA/KRLS News that when making a new hire, it takes around 11 and a half months to train a new officer, with academy costs and field training there is a cost of about $56,000 just in the investment of a new officer.

Ussery tells KNIA/KRLS News “Being able to retain our current officers is very important and being able to pay them competitive wages is a way we are able to keep them.”

Ussery added the city council was in support of raising the wages