The Clallam Transit Board of Directors at its regular meeting on Dec. 21 unanimously approved a $16.7 million operating budget and capital/grant budget for 2023 that includes employee wage increases and retention incentives, and $25,000 to contribute to the hiring of a downtown Port Angeles resource officer.

Union employees will receive a 2.5 percent wage increase along with three $1,200 retention payments; non-union employees will receive a 5 percent increase and three $700 retention payments. The budget also accounted for an 11 percent increase in medical premiums.

Those numbers will likely change in the future if Clallam Transit, similar to other transit agencies, continues to have difficulty attracting and retaining employees, said human resources manager Andy Rowlson. Although the average tenure at Clallam Transit is about seven years, the rate of turnover is increasing for those who are employed for less than a year.

“That’s a problem for us,” Rowlson said.

“We’re not getting people making a commitment to the transit agency like we have before. So that’s something that we’re watching.”

One of the ways transit agencies have been tackling hiring and retention is by enhancing wage increases, Rowlson said.

“They are more than the 3 percent historical average, they’re 4 and 5 or even 7 [percent] rate increases for multiple years,” Rowlson said.

“Other transit agencies are really putting in one big year where a person might receive a larger than 7 percent increase and then active at a 3 percent rate for future years. We’re noting that and we’re thinking about that internally.”

The $25,0000 to help pay for a police officer dedicated to patrolling the downtown area comes after the position was eliminated several years ago due to city budget cuts. Concerns about crime, trespassing and vandalism have renewed a call to revive the position.

Clallam Transit general manager Kevin Gallacci told the board that the city would most likely want an agreement committing the agency to $25,000 over a four-year period. That number, he said, was in included in the agency’s budget forecast, “so can see what that looks like down the road.”

Port Angeles Mayor Kate Dexter, who serves on the board, said the city council would discuss a downtown resource officer at its Jan. 17 meeting.

In 2005, the Clallam Transit board approved $30,000 — $10,000 over the span of three years — to supplement the cost of a downtown resource officer.