WASHINGTON — Representatives of the city’s Fire, Police and Utility departments presented their 2012 wage/benefit proposals to the city council at its regular meeting Monday night.

Firefighter and union President Dwayne Murphy spoke on behalf of the firefighters, asking the council to consider a 9-percent raise for them. That reflects 3 percent for every recent year they haven’t received an increase.

“The members of the Washington City Fire Department elected not to receive a wage increase during the past two years (2010 and 2011),” states a memo to the council and Mayor Larry Haag. “Due to failing economic times, we realized that our city was looking for ways to cut spending and narrow the deficit. With this said, the department is requesting a 9 percent wage increase to help keep up with the increase in the cost of living for these past three years.”

Patrolman Barry Hudson represented the Washington Police Department, requesting the council address shortcomings in workman’s compensation, the use of personal equipment while on duty, lack of a raise and loss of income in the past three years, take-home cars, two additional road officers, and additional time off.

He explained that workman’s comp was just recently introduced to the police and fire departments. After a couple people used it, Hudson reported, they realized it leaves the injured worker and his family with only about 40 percent of his salary to live on.

“On top of only making 60 percent of our regular pay, we have to pay our own insurance premiums and retirement benefits out of that money, which leaves us with about 40 percent of what we normally make,” his proposal to the council states. “We would request the institution of a city ordinance that states that whatever is not covered by workman’s comp be paid by the city.”

The department’s officers also would like to be compensated for the use of their personal cell phones on the job or be issued department cell phones. Hudson explained they often have to make calls from the field to detectives, Child Protective Services and other agencies.

Officers did not receive a raise in 2008, 2009 or 2010, Hudson continued, and their insurance increased considerably in 2009. In addition, he said, the implementation of a federal tax increase in early 2011 affected their paychecks.

“This federal tax increase was offset with the lowering of withholdings out of social security ...,” Hudson explained. “As police officers, we do not pay into social security, so we did, in fact, feel the effects of this federal tax increase and saw significant differences in our take-home pay.”

To catch up with the cost of living increases over the past three years, the officers requested a 15-percent wage increase.

Currently, each shift captain has a take-home car, according to Hudson. Those cars accrue substantially more mileage annually than do the shared cars officers use on every shift. He said if each officer had a take-home car, the wear and tear would be less, as would mileage, so they’d require less maintenance and have to be replaced less often. Parked in the officers’ neighborhoods, they’d be crime deterrents, he added, and officers would also have a quicker response time when called to incidents.

“The way that it’s set up now, the patrol cars are replaced every three years when those cars could easily last eight years if only driven by one person who takes care of it properly,” Hudson told the council members. “On trade-in, we’re only getting $2,500 to $3,000 on a car that’s 3 years old, and we trade in six at a time.”

He requested that, instead of trading in the six currently ready to go, the council allow them to be issued to officers. Doing so would give every officer currently on the force his own vehicle, he said.

Mentioning the current influx of workers and shoppers to the city daily and forecasting future annexation, Hudson said the department would like two more officers.

“With more people comes more crime, and with more crime comes more crime suppression,” he said.

Finally, he said officers would like two more personal days.

Suzi Wood, clerk and radio operator for the Utility Department, told the council her department had not had a wage increase since 2009, and their insurance premiums also have increased.

“We understand the mayor is asking for 5 percent, so that’s what we’re asking for,” she said.

Wood outlined several positive outcomes from the department to bolster her proposal, including a perfect State Board of Works audit two consecutive years and a good utility receipts audit. In addition, they anticipate a $28,000 refund, located connections that weren’t being billed and started billing them, and updated software that resulted in cost savings and customer satisfaction. Wood said overtime was greatly reduced, and job duties were more defined, resulting in greater efficiency, as well.

“All the city employees have worked and worked,” Haag said. “They have turned this city around. They’re the best resource we have.”