TAZEWELL COUNTY (25 News) – The Tazewell County Consolidated Communications board met on Friday to talk about pay raises for emergency dispatchers.
TC3 proposed a 25% pay increase for 911 dispatchers, warning the emergency communications center has reached a point where it cannot afford to lose another employee.
Abby Hobbs, director of Tazewell County Communications, said a 30-year veteran retired Friday, leaving TC3 with 10 fully trained, full-time dispatchers. The center’s four floor managers are also covering dispatcher positions, and one additional employee is trained to handle fire and phone duties.
TC3 considers 20 dispatchers its minimum staffing level.
“I honestly think after Donnie leaves today, the tip of our nose is barely above water,” Hobbs said to the board. “It’s not sustainable. It’s not sustainable at all.”
Hobbs said management developed the 25% proposal after being asked to identify immediate and long-term solutions to the staffing shortage.
The increase would bring the current $24-an-hour starting wage to $30 an hour and, according to Hobbs, make TC3 more competitive with neighboring emergency communications centers.
It would also allow TC3 to develop a more competitive lateral hiring program for experienced dispatchers.
Hobbs said TC3 currently cannot bring an experienced dispatcher in at more than the two-year pay step, or $24.70 an hour. She pointed to a Peoria dispatcher with 22 years of experience who is interested in joining TC3 but cannot financially justify making the move under the current pay structure.
With the proposed wage increase and a lateral hiring program, Hobbs said 10 experienced dispatchers have already verbally expressed interest in coming to TC3.
The proposal comes as TC3 is projected to run approximately $183,000 over budget because of overtime, according to figures Hobbs presented Friday.
Hobbs argued that increasing wages could ultimately provide a more sustainable solution than relying on outside contract dispatchers.
According to figures presented to the board, bringing in four contracted dispatchers for a year could cost approximately $792,000 to $878,000 when wages, housing, transportation and other expenses are included.
TC3’s current full-time salary budget is approximately $1.2 million. Hobbs estimated salaries for 20 dispatchers receiving the 25% increase would total approximately $1.4 million, putting the center roughly $243,000 above that amount.
She said a $250,000 grant from the Tazewell County Emergency Telephone System Board could cover that difference it chooses to allocate the money directly toward dispatcher salaries rather than using it to reduce participating agencies’ fees.
Board officials emphasized that TC3 does not control how the ETSB distributes the grant money and that such a change would require action by the ETSB.
The financial discussion followed an emotional public comment period in which current and former dispatchers, firefighters and a police officer urged the board to address the shortage.
Multiple first emergency response professionals, including fire chiefs from around the area, commented on the growing concern for the health of the telecommunicators for the county.
Former dispatchers said they still have calls they remember and how difficult it is to find and retain qualified people. Current dispatchers said they have missed family events because of how short staffed they are. A local police officer said he relies on the dispatchers to get the help he needs during an emergency.
Local fire chiefs in support of the dispatchers included Pekin Fire Chief Trent Reeise and Deer Creek Fire Chief Russell Egolf.
“I have a passion and a heart for the job, for the people that we serve. I have listened to countless people find their loved ones hanging by suicide, a young child shot by an accidental gun clearing – they thought it was cleared, it wasn’t,” said Jennifer Alexander, a TC3 dispatcher.
“I’ve heard those screams; I hear them when I sleep. I’ve missed out on family functions because somebody needs me. Somebody needs to answer that phone. The two times that I’ve had to leave the job that I love as a full-time dispatcher, I had to do that for my own family…”
Starting pay for TC3 telecommunicators was recently increased to $24 an hour, but it remains below some surrounding communications centers. Peoria, for example, starts emergency communications telecommunicators at $28.05 an hour.
The TC3 board agreed to consider a collective bargaining letter from the union and start working on a lateral transfer program to increase staffing.
(Reporting by Angeles Ponpa, 25 News)
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