August 7th 2026 |
Photo – Courtesy Saratoga Police Department
Unexpected legal complications have delayed restoring the Saratoga police chief to his original pay status.
At the June 17th Saratoga Town Council meeting, Police Chief John Moore announced that he was short an officer and working significant overtime while filling in for staff on medical leave and vacation. In addition, calls for service were increasing, requiring the chief to put in even more hours.
Because of the added workload, Chief Moore asked the governing body to move him from salary to hourly pay. His rate would stay $42.30 an hour, but he would qualify for overtime. Councilman Bub Barkhurst calculated that, as an hourly employee, the chief would receive approximately $3,000 in overtime pay on top of his base salary.
Following the discussion, the governing body unanimously voted to approve the chief’s request, moving him from salary to hourly pay and agreed to revisit the matter in 30 days.
Police Chief John Moore’s pay status was discussed again during the July 15th Saratoga Town Council meeting. Mayor Chuck Davis said that now that the 4th of July rush is over and the overtime spike has passed, he thinks Chief Moore should return to salary status.
Mayor Davis said Chief Moore was hired as a salaried employee and that leaving him on hourly status was unfair to the town’s other salaried staff. Councilman Bub Barkhurst agreed that the police chief should return to his original pay status.
Mayor Davis explained that July 29th would be 30 days from when the Council voted to move Chief Moore to hourly status. The governing body agreed to wait the full 30‑day period and keep the chief on hourly pay until the matter could be revisited at the August 5th meeting.
During Wednesday night’s Saratoga Town Council meeting, Mayor Davis said lawyers were now involved and that changing the chief’s pay status would need to wait until those legal matters were settled.
As with all legal matters, the details of the proceedings are not publicly available, and Mayor Davis did not elaborate during the meeting. He only said the town cannot change the chief’s pay status until they hear back from the attorney.
Councilman Cory Oxford moved to keep Police Chief John Moore on hourly pay until the attorney issues a formal decision. Councilman Jerry Fluty seconded, and the motion carried. Chief Moore will remain an hourly employee for the time being.
