Mayor Steven L. Reed announced on the Mayor’s Take podcast that Montgomery City is expanding police recruitment incentives, including a new starting salary of $55,000, a pay study to maintain competitiveness and both signing and retention bonuses. "At 55,000," Reed said when asked about starting pay, and added the city plans a pay study and bonuses to attract and keep officers.

Reed described the city's approach as responding to recruitment pressures: after earlier raises that briefly put Montgomery at or near the top of regional pay rankings, other cities "jumped us," he said, prompting a new study to ensure Montgomery remains competitive. He also warned that a waiting list for the police academy is not a guarantee of hire and urged applicants to maintain clean records; Reed said the waiting list contained about 900 people.

Why this matters: Police recruitment and retention affect staffing levels, emergency response capacity and community safety. Reed framed higher pay and bonuses as investments in public safety and a career pathway for residents.

Details and limits: Reed said the starting salary is now "more than they were getting paid when I came in in 2019" and acknowledged the job is dangerous. He did not provide a detailed pay scale, total budget impact or a timeline for when all increases would take effect. Reed said the city would pay signing bonuses for new hires and retention bonuses for lateral moves but did not give dollar amounts.

Next steps: Reed said the city is conducting a pay study and will continue recruitment efforts; no formal council action or budget vote was announced on the podcast.