Council also approves employee bonuses
Heather Bell
Editor
RADFORD – Radford City Council voted unanimously to move forward with a plan to increase the annual salaries of Radford’s sworn police officers by $10,000 in an effort to retain officers.
Currently, the Radford City Police Department has the lowest starting salary of any area police department, at $47,199 annually. As a comparison, the Radford University Police Department’s starting salary is $54,902 and Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department is $51,000.
“We’re definitely the most underpaid criminal justice entity in the New River Valley and Roanoke Valley,” said RCPD Chief Jerry Holdaway.
In a presentation at the Dec. 22 Radford City Council meeting, Holdaway stressed that retention matters, as the cost of recruiting and training one new officer is $238,573.
“We need to keep our good men and women here and not allow other agencies to fish them away from us,” he said. “It’s just simple math to me. The cost of recruiting and training two officers is more than the raises.”
“The ability to retain people with $10,000 is worth it, especially when you look at the cost of training,” said Council Member Guy Wohlford.
According to Holdaway, the department is currently nine officers short and the officers are being overworked. A competitive starting salary will help fill those vacancies, he said.
“We are really burning our police officers out,” he said.
Holdaway said the department has been “very conservative” with the department’s budget and returned $857,179 to the city in fiscal year 24, $523,203 in FY 25 and in that time has secured $1.3 million in grants.
Non-sworn officer employees will have their salaries increased by $2,500 annually.
Also at the Dec. 22, 2025 meeting, the city council approved end-of-the-year employee bonuses, thanks to a request by retiring Radford City Treasurer Janet Jones. Funds collected through local DMV Select offices in treasurer offices are to be used at the treasurer’s discretion and cannot be used to supplant the regular budget. Jones requested $150,893 in DMV Select funds be used for $500 bonuses for full-time employees and $100 for part-time employees.
