State troopers could get hit with tuition costs buried in budget

A provision tucked into the state budget bill could leave Highway Patrol troopers on the hook for hefty student loans if they leave the patrol too soon.

Posted 10:45 p.m. May 29, 2018 — Updated 2:43 p.m. May 30, 2018

Laura Leslie

, WRAL Capitol Bureau chief

RALEIGH, N.C. — State legislative leaders are engaging in a carrot-and-stick approach to fight turnover in the ranks of the State Highway Patrol.

Republican budget writers have been touting salary increases, especially for starting troopers. The beginning salary will rise to $44,000 a year under the spending plan, while the top salary will rise to $64,200 -- an average 8 percent pay raise. The budget also reduces the time it takes a trooper to reach the top of the salary scale from nine to six years.

However, the budget also includes a less-talked-about provision that could leave new troopers on the hook for hefty student loans if they leave the patrol within three years.

Section 35.25(c) of the bill (p. 201) declares that trooper cadets will be responsible from now on for tuition costs for training, currently set at $36,000. It sets up a new Trooper Training Reimbursement Program to forgive that tuition cost as long as the trooper stays with the Highway Patrol for three years.

The trainee will have to sign a promissory note that could include interest as high as 10 percent.

The loan can be forgiven if death, health issues or hardship make it impossible for the trooper to serve out his or her three years.

But if another law enforcement agency – municipal, county or private – hires the trooper away within three years, the agency will have to reimburse the Highway Patrol for the trooper's tuition cost. If the trooper simply leaves the force, he or she will have to repay $1,000 of the loan for each month he or she was short of the three-year agreement.

Patrol spokesman Sgt. Michael Baker declined to comment on the proposal, though he confirmed to WRAL News that troopers are not currently charged tuition for their training.

Rep. Allen McNeill, R-Randolph, one of the House budget-writers, said the change is needed because so many cadets have been going through training and then leaving the patrol for other agencies that can pay them more.

"Work requirement employment contracts are not new to law enforcement," McNeill said in an email to WRAL News. "Although I am not familiar with how many North Carolina agencies use these type of contracts currently, I believe many have used them in the past. This provision makes the entity who hired the trooper or the trooper responsible for a pro-rated repayment."

"Hopefully, the raise in starting pay and the 36 month commitment will ease the retention problems currently plaguing the Highway Patrol," he added.

Senate leaders agree. Last week, Senate budget chairman Harry Brown, R-Onslow, told reporters that trooper salary increases were needed because local agencies "are treating the patrol as a training program."

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