Clifton will start the new year by swearing in newly elected City Council members on Jan. 1 and six newly hired police officers on Jan. 2. On Jan. 3, the new council will be faced with an old problem: how to retain the rookie officers.

The issue largely involves Clifton's low starting salary of about $30,000. Neighboring police departments offer starting salaries that are higher, in some cases by $10,000 to $15,000, and have drawn trained officers away from Clifton.

On the day the new council will be sworn in, Officer Todd Compesi will leave the department for a higher-paying job.

Compesi submitted his resignation on Dec. 17 and is the 17th officer to resign and transfer to another department since 2015, Police Department records show.

Many area departments offer starting salaries of $40,000 or more.

Next door in Paterson, Police Director Jerry Speziale said that simplifying the salary step guide could help. A few years back, Paterson had a similar problem. Reducing the number of steps and increasing pay (rookie officers make $38,000) helped solve that problem.

Compesi, who is paid $49,000 in Clifton after five years, will get a $30,000 salary increase as an officer in the Livingston Police Department.

"That's a starting salary in a lot of locations," Compesi said of his current Clifton salary. He said Livingston's 12-hour work schedule and better equipment and work environment also contributed to his decision to transfer.

Compesi, in his letter of resignation, wrote that it was his intent to finish out his police career in Clifton. "However, the poor working, contractual and economic conditions more recently imposed on the junior Clifton Police Officers has forced me to seek and accept employment elsewhere."

"Everything is falling apart in Clifton," he said.

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There is talk that another officer will soon resign from the Clifton department to transfer to West Milford. Clifton has not confirmed the information.

Compesi is just one of the eight officers who resigned in 2018. One officer left for a police job in Morris Township, two to Franklin Lakes, one to Florida and one to Rochelle Park, and two resigned before they finished the training program.

In the three previous years, the department lost nine junior officers, mostly to other departments.

Police officials said that as of Nov. 1, the department's table of organization included 164 police officers. It currently employs 150 officers, 137 of whom are eligible for duty, police said.

Five officers are injured or serving in a light-duty capacity. Five are recruits in the police academy. Two were injured during training and waiting to complete their academy, and one is on military leave, police officials said.

The shortage has led to high overtime expenses, sources said.

City Manager Nick Villano said the recruits will begin training at police academies in Morris and Bergen counties right after being sworn in.

Those who complete the academy training will hit the streets by late summer or early fall, Villano said.

The five who are currently attending the academy are expected to undergo field training upon completion and will hit the streets in spring.

Mayor James Anzaldi acknowledged the ongoing problem. He said it is possible to increase starting salaries, but it's a contractual matter that needs to be worked out with the police union.

"It will take a willingness on both sides," Anzaldi said, adding that many on the council feel the starting salaries should be higher.

"How we get there is anybody's guess," he added.

Mary Sadrakula, one of two new members who will join the council on Jan. 1, said police pay is a major concern.

"We are going to have to do something," she said. "We have a crisis."

The city and the union this year signed off on a new contract that maintained the starting salary.

Anzaldi said the city's offer, which was rejected, would have increased the starting salaries of the junior officers.

The deal breaker, union officials said, was that junior officers would have to work an additional 96 hours a year.

Compesi said the offer would have pitted the younger officers against the older ones.

PBA President Nick Hriczov said last month that the current staffing and equipment problems, such as non-working radios, are major safety issues, also driving officers to other departments.

"There is a major problem, and it needs to be fixed or someone is going to get hurt," Hriczov said. "Either a cop or a citizen."

Email: fagan@northjersey.com