The starting wage for Mexico Public Safety Department officers has increased to $22.49 per hour.

The Mexico City Council approved a new pay schedule for Mexico Public Safety Department officers at the April 27 meeting.

At the previous April 13 Mexico City Council meeting, council members approved McGrath Human Resources to conduct a competitive pay and benefit compensation study, which indicated that the wage rate for public safety officers in Mexico is too low.

According to Bruce Slagle, city manager, it is at least $1 per hour lower than comparable cities in the area.

“Some cities, in order to fund these increases though for their starting salaries, have flattened the pay ranges, decreased benefits, and/or required higher participation from employees in paying for benefits,” he said. “None of that is what we are recommending here though this evening.”

The pay rate schedule presented to council members at the April 27 meeting looked very similar to the previous schedule due to the way the city decided to increase wages. Hourly rates remained the same, but current Steps 1 and 2 were eliminated, so a first-year public safety officer will now receive the same pay as a third-year officer did.

Steps 3 through 11 on the original wage rate schedule will now be labeled one through nine. Two new steps, 10 and 11, will also be added to the schedule at a rate that is 2% higher than the one immediately below.

The wage increase does not only affect public safety officers. Hourly patrol, school resource and special activities corporals; detectives; patrol and fire sergeants; and lieutenants will also receive a pay increase.

Since the increased wages will go into effect during the next full pay period, the city will utilize savings from job vacancies in the Mexico Public Safety Department to fund them. This also means that the City of Mexico did not have to make any budget adjustments for this fiscal year.

The city has authorized 34 full-time public safety officers and there are currently nine vacancies.

Slagle said all Mexico Public Safety Department employees who have resigned recently indicated that one of their reasons for leaving was for better pay.

“Many of our surrounding communities, cities and counties have recently increased their starting rates of pay for officers, which have also added to our hiring difficulties,” he said.

The full hourly wage rate schedule for Mexico Public Safety Department is available on the City of Mexico's website at mexicomissouri.net in the April 27, 2026 City Council Meeting E-Packets.