- $87,318.06 for police administration, salaries and wages
- $57,448.41 for criminal investigations, salaries and wages
- $35,893.97 for narcotics, salaries and wages
- $520,984.41 for uniform patrol, salaries and wages
- $13,083.32 for police/fire dispatch, salaries and wages
- $20,850.01 for jail management, salaries and wages
These include funding to cover retroactive pay calculated back to Nov. 1, 2024, as well as additional funds that will cover the salaries and benefits not originally included in the 2025 budget due to the contracts not being finalized at the time, according to city documents.
Denny Jordan, who worked in the police department for 26 years and more than 10 as a union executive, told Journal-News in March that Middletown officers were paid salaries in the “bottom of the barrel” compared to other Butler County police departments and in the lower one-third in Southwest Ohio.
That all changed, he said, when city council unanimously approved two emergency ordinances that provide substantial raises for police officers, sergeants and lieutenants that make them some of the highest paid in the county.
Council authorized a three-year collective bargaining agreement effective from Nov. 1. 2024 through Oct. 31, 2027.
The cost of the raises will increase the city’s 2025 budget by $645,000 — $400,000 for the patrol officers and $245,000 for the supervisors, according to the contracts.
The general fund reserve balance was “sufficient to accommodate” these increases, according to the staff report.
Writer Rick McCrabb contributed to this report.
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