But unlike the rank and file, both police and fire administrators are ahead of the curve as some of the best paid officers in the county. Sandy's police chief pulls in about $111,530 a year, making him the second-highest-paid police chief in the county after Salt Lake City. Sandy's fire chief makes about $104,665 annually, outpacing chiefs in both Salt Lake City and West Valley City.

The city's proposed budget — set to take effect July 1 — would further boost administrator salaries by increasing the minimum starting rates for some of the city's safety personnel. The minimum salary of the deputy fire chief and the assistant police chief, for example, would increase by roughly $10,700 a year.

Starting salary increases for regular firefighters and low-level police officers, however, may only see an increase of about $2,600 a year.

Brian Kelley, human resource director for Sandy, said most of those leadership positions are getting a boost at the entry level to encourage officers to aspire to become sergeants, captains and chiefs.

"We just want to make sure that there's good and equitable separation between what an officer is making to what a sergeant is making," Kelley said.

In the past, some officers were making more than the minimum salary for much higher positions and lacked incentive to work toward promotion, he said.

Mecham said the increased minimum pay levels may not have a direct impact on anyone's paycheck because few employees were at the lower end of the pay scale. While the change may look like an increase on paper, Mecham said that lower end of the scale was simply cut for clarity.

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E-mail: estewart@desnews.com