By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
During the public comment period of the Wednesday, May 28, meeting of the Price City Council, Price City Police Capt. Brandon Ratcliffe took to the podium to address the department’s ongoing pay concerns.
“June 26, 2024, there was an agreement by you to a room full of Price City police officers and their family members that the budget would be reopened after the first quarter of the new fiscal year to try and rectify the issues with the police department wages,” said Ratcliffe. “The first quarter of the new fiscal year ended in September. Here we are eight months after the first quarter ended and nearly a year since that agreement was made to the police department. Very little action has been taken on behalf of the city council to address this issue.”
Ratcliffe was referring to a budget hearing from 2024, in which a 4-1 decision was made to approve the 2024-25 budget with the caveat that it be reopened at the end of the first quarter to look at giving the officers their promised pay raise. Council Member Tanner Richardson was the sole dissenting vote.
The budget was never reopened.
“I sent an email reminding the Mayor and council of this information on Feb. 12, 2025. The email was later addressed during a public city council workshop meeting on Feb. 26 where threats of disciplinary action as well as threats to not allow myself to speak at future city council meetings came from Mayor Kourianos,” said the Captain. “In that public meeting, the Mayor stated he was disheartened by my email. Let me tell you what’s disheartening to an entire police department and their families that you guys made a commitment to, that the only action that you have taken regarding police department wages was to meet in private to speak about getting rid of your police department altogether.”
This referenced the rumor addressed by the council during their work meeting on May 15. During this meeting, Councilwoman Amy Knott-Jespersen addressed the rumor, explaining that this was never an active discussion but rather a hypothetical thrown out as they tried to find ways to lower the budget. “We talked about every department in every way we could,” she said. “It wasn’t like this is what we’re going to do.”
“Your police force continues to take action by showing up and putting their lives on the line each and every day. And even though I’ve been called names in an official capacity by more than one of you and face continued pressure not to speak, I am once again addressing this issue and asking you to reaffirm your commitment to the Price City Police Department through actions not words.”
A public hearing regarding the end-of-year revision to the FY24-25 budget will be held during the next meeting of the Price City Council on Wednesday, June 11. This meeting will be available to stream on YouTube at KOAL-Castle Country Focus.