Groups of local law enforcement personnel and firefighters are up in arms.
OK, a bit too dramatic. Take two:
In the last two weeks, new wrinkles have emerged in the realm of local public safety about how officers negotiate with their employers and how they are compensated.
First, Texarkana, Texas, firefighters turned in petitions to the City Council claiming the right to put before voters the question of whether they can bargain collectively.
The council's blessing is just a formality. They are required to call for this election. It will be in November.
This is believed to be the first time police or fire personnel on either side of the city or in surrounding counties have organized to operate in this way.
As public-sector employees, they won't have the right to strike or participate in work stoppages or slowdowns, but they say it will give them a seat at the table they don't have now. If an impasse is reached with the city on an issue, it also may open the door to arbitration.
While proponents are not saying this strategy is about increasing rates of pay now, that could change sometime in the future. There are no guarantees. Once it is on the books, the full breadth of what collective bargaining allows is there to be applied. What it allows is what it allows.
Second, Bowie County law enforcement officers want to be paid commensurable to what Texarkana, Texas, police officers are paid. As an average, salaries for equivalent positions on the Texas-side are almost a third higher.
Supporters are petitioning to address this disparity and need about 5,700 signatures to move this agenda forward.
If they get the signatures, one of three things will happen: County commissioners can either agree to adopt the minimum salary structure that is outlined on the petition, negotiate with a five-person citizen committee (established by the petition) on a mutually agreeable salary plan or call for an election that would let voters decide.
If the minimum salary structure is adopted either by commissioners or voters, the cost to the county is estimated to be between $500,000 and $600,000 annually, according to various courthouse officials.
How will this all play out? We can only speculate on the ramifications.
In the case of Texas-side firefighters, the outcome will be determined at the polls. It is certainly possible it could pass. Local residents have shown abiding sympathy to police and firefighters. Almost 20 years ago, uniformed officers and their supporters on the Arkansas side took the question of parity pay to voters and passed an ordinance that elevates and keeps officer pay in the city at the same level as their Texas-side counterparts. It was a huge victory.
So, if it passes and the ability to negotiate proves fruitful to Texas-side firefighters, might not Texas-side police decide to organize as well? And if the salaries of these two groups go up, then Arkansas-side police and firefighter salaries will go up accordingly, because of the parity pay link.
If voters pass this measure, there could eventually be budget ramifications on both sides of State Line Avenue.
As in the private sector, there are restrictions about what the city can and cannot say about this collective-bargaining activity. Officials will be guarded in their words and actions.
As this relates to Bowie County Sheriff's Office personnel, the first question is can they get almost 6,000 signatures in a county that is only recently getting over a bevy of financial challenges that left them on the verge of insolvency? And, if they do, will that same support play out accordingly at the polls?
It's one thing when supporters of this measure knock on your door and ask you to sign a petition face to face, but quite another when you make your actual choice in the privacy of the polling place.
For their part, county officials will have to decide if they are better off trying to negotiate a more favorable deal with their law enforcement providers or simply let the question go to the voters, where it is out of their hands.
Sounds like a classic case of risk management: Find out which outcome is more likely and act accordingly.
Among all these unknowns, one thing is clear: Around here, the Texas-side pay plan is the gold standard to which all others aspire. And right now, there is a lot of aspiring going on.