POST FALLS - Attrition at some area law enforcement agencies will likely be among the first concerns to be addressed when governmental budgets brighten after the recession.

Post Falls Police formed a committee to look at the topic, and Chief Scot Haug will make a presentation on the findings to the City Council tonight at 6.

"The purpose is simply to inform the council of the cost associated with losing a police officer," said Haug, adding that a specific budget request and solutions to attrition through losing officers to greener pastures won't be made until later.

"Our competition is driving this train. We can't compete with Spokane, but we can do a better job of bridging the gap with other agencies in our region."

Haug said his agency lost four officers in the past year and all cited wages as their primary reason for leaving in their exit interviews.

"That's the highest number since 2000 when we lost a group to Spokane and Spokane County," Haug said. "We just hope that those agencies don't have positions open because we can just be a training ground."

Haug said the average length of stay for an officer at Post Falls is six years, which he said is "concerning."

The committee found the replacement costs for each officer lost include $47,000 in hard costs such as training at the state academy, background and medical checks and orientation and $31,000 in soft costs such as advertising, reviewing applications, an in-house training program and separation costs.

The amounts do not include the $10,000 in training that was spent on the previous officer and the estimated $50,000 in overtime the agency will spend this year to fill in the spots before new hires are made.

Haug said the dollar figures don't take into account that the level of service generally decreases when a more inexperienced officer replaces an experienced one.

"There is more room for error when you don't have a tenured officer," he said.

City Administrator Eric Keck said that while police attrition, along with attrition in other divisions such as wastewater, are being examined, it's too early to say whether the situation can be addressed this year.

"It will all depend upon council's direction to us," Keck said. "We have not identified how far the scale may need to move, so it would be premature to indicate if we will even have the available funding to address it this year."

According to an annual police wage study conducted by PFPD of North Idaho agencies, most patrol employees start out around $16.50 an hour at Spirit Lake, $17.60 Rathdrum, $19 Kootenai County and Post Falls and $21 Coeur d'Alene.

Keck said he believes the city's new priority-based budgeting program will have the city look at public safety closely.

"Most likely, we will be reworking the compensation scales for the sworn personnel in the police department to remain competitive regionally," Keck said. "While we cannot keep up with Spokane and Spokane County, we must make movement to be more competitive with other regional law enforcement agencies."

Increasing police wages has been on the city's radar in recent years.

"We did provide a merit payment this year to the police department and all other eligible employees, but a more comprehensive scale adjustment may be warranted to help with the loss of officers," Keck said.

Attrition concerns vary at other local law enforcement agencies.

Coeur d'Alene Police has had "very little" attrition through transfer to other agencies, Sgt. Christie Wood said.

"I can only think of one officer who left to work for a larger agency in the past five years," she said. "He went to Portland, but that was largely due to that being his home residence before he joined the military and then later came to work for us."

She said Coeur d'Alene's wages are comparable to similar-sized agencies in the region.

"We are not the highest, but we are also not the lowest in the state," she said. "The city also formally recognizes collective bargaining for our police association."

Idaho State Police Capt. Curtis Kastens did not return a message seeking comment.

Kootenai County Sheriff's Department Maj. Ben Wolfinger said his agency has traditionally been at the bottom of the local market for wages and benefits. It lost a five-year deputy last year to Spokane County due to about a $1,000 per month pay increase and better benefits.

"Based on exit interviews, the problem seems to really lie with the wages and benefits," Wolfinger said.

Wolfinger said the county estimates it loses $104,000 every time a five-year deputy walks out the door. That's the estimated cost for the hiring process and training.

Local agencies say that, while they can't and shouldn't compete with Spokane-area wages, employees may be more apt to stay if the gap is closed.

He said three KCSD employees recently applied for a similar records clerk job at the Coeur d'Alene Police Department that paid $5 more per hour.

"One of them told me that even though she loves working here and loves the people she works with, that as a single parent, she cannot turn down the possibility of working in the same town, doing the same job, but making about $5 per hour more to start with," Wolfinger said.

Rathdrum Chief Kevin Fuhr said his agency has not had an issue with attrition. In the past five years, it has only had two officers leave to go to other agencies. An officer starts at $17.60 an hour and makes about $19 after five years.

"I do, however, see a potential future issue as larger departments increase their wages, smaller agencies may see more officers leave for the money," Fuhr said.