Morale at Risk: Henry County Police Department Officers Receive No Raise Despite County’s Multi-Million Dollar Expense
- Game Changers
- Oct 20
- 4 min read
By Game Changers Media Network
McDonough, GA – A growing wave of concern is sweeping through the ranks of the Henry County Police Department (HCPD). While the county government publicizes large-scale spending obligations — including a recent legal order that requires the county to return more than $14 million in improperly collected impact fees — rank-and-file officers say they’ve seen no meaningful pay raise, prompting questions about priorities, fairness and public-safety readiness.
The $14 Million Order
Earlier this year, a Georgia Superior Court judge ruled that the Henry County Board of Commissioners (BOC) had implemented a development impact fee scheme that was “fatally flawed.”
• The ruling found that cost-projections used by the county were wildly inflated — for example, the county uploaded a $147 million cost baseline in one category, later ruled incorrect.
• As a result, the county was ordered to refund more than $14 million to builders and home-developers.
• The impact: That’s money which — had it not been refunded — could have remained available for other county purposes.
In plain terms, Henry County stands to lose a large sum that had been allocated (or at least accounted for) in its revenue-stream projections. That places added pressure on the budget for services — including law enforcement — at a time when policing demands are rising.
The Policing Reality
At the same time, officers in HCPD are reporting no* across-the-board raise in recent budget cycles (beyond perhaps minor longevity or cost-of-living tweaks). Meanwhile:
• HCPD’s starting salaries were recently reported at $25–$32 per hour for new recruits, plus incentives and take-home vehicles.
• The county’s FY 2025 budget included a 1.8% longevity + 1% cost-of-living adjustment for county employees — a modest increase.
• A previous county budget summary placed public safety expenses at about 52 % of total expenditures — roughly $135.8 million of the FY 2025 budget.
What’s missing, according to officers and department insiders, is a substantial or clearly targeted raise package for those currently serving — especially given rising workloads, turnover, and competition from nearby jurisdictions.
Why This Matters
• Retention & Recruitment: When officers feel that salary growth is stagnant, morale suffers. Recruitment becomes more difficult — even as county growth means higher call-volumes and more responsibilities for fewer officers.
• Operational Readiness: The county’s own public safety director reported that call-volume increased by 27 % in 2023. No proportional compensation increase undermines the case for service capacity.
• Public-Trust & Equity: Some rank-and-file officers view the $14 million refund obligation as a signal that the county had funds — but chose to commit them elsewhere. While the refund may not have been avoidable, the optics are challenging: If builders are being refunded due to flawed policy, why can’t a bigger investment be made back into the officers who serve the community?
What’s the Board’s Position?
The BOC and county leadership emphasize fiscal caution and competing priorities. In the approved FY 2025 budget documents, the county notes:
“Employees will receive a 1.8 % longevity and 1 % cost-of-living adjustment.”
Still, county officials have not publicly outlined a targeted raise program for officers above what’s already applied to all employees. Nor have they responded publicly (to my knowledge) to claims that policing is under-compensated given workload increases.
The Bigger Picture: Growth, Costs and Priorities
Henry County is in a phase of rapid growth — both population-wise and development-wise. That means more infrastructure, more subdivisions, more calls to 911, and more demand on first-responders. Yet:
• The large refund order for impact fees spotlights how the county’s budgeting for growth is not always aligned with service costs.
• The modest employee-raise language in budget documents suggests the county is managing tight margins.
• The combination of revenue loss (refunds) and growing service demand places law enforcement in a squeeze: “you expect more, but pay less.”
What’s Next & What’s At Stake
For the community and for Game Changers Media Network, these are the key items to watch:
• Will the BOC respond with a dedicated law-enforcement raise package? If public safety is truly over half the budget, one might expect visible salary investment.
• Will police turnover or recruitment suffer? Monitoring recruiting success, retention statistics and vacancies will be telling.
• Will public transparency improve? Officers and citizens alike would benefit from clearer breakdowns of how police compensation stacks up against peers, as well as how refunds (like the $14 M) affect service budgets.
• What happens with growth and service demands? If volume continues to rise (as it reportedly has), and staffing or pay doesn’t keep pace, response times, officer fatigue and public safety risk will increase.
In Summary
The photo is stark: Henry County has been mandated to refund over $14 million due to mis-calculated impact fee policy. Meanwhile, the men and women of the Henry County Police Department appear to be receiving only minimal across-the-board raises, even as demands on them grow. Without a clear compensatory plan, the county risks losing talent, morale and public-safety capacity — which affects every resident.
For a county that places itself in a high-growth metro area and states public safety is a principal cost centre, the question becomes: Are the officers themselves being valued accordingly? If not, the long-term cost may be far higher than a few percentage points in salary.
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