The Atlanta police chief salary sits at roughly $240,890 in annual base pay, according to public payroll records for Chief Darin Schierbaum. The position is appointed by the mayor, confirmed by city council, and funded through the city’s annual budget. On top of base pay, the chief receives pension contributions, a city vehicle, and other benefits that push the total cost of the role well above the headline figure.
How the Salary Is Set
Schierbaum serves as Atlanta’s 26th Chief of Police, appointed by Mayor Andre Dickens in October 2022. Under the city code, the chief is a department head appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the city council, which places the role in Atlanta’s unclassified service rather than the civil service system that covers rank-and-file employees.1Atlanta, GA. Atlanta Code of Ordinances Chapter 114 Personnel – Section 114-84 Unclassified and Classified Service Unclassified positions are at-will. The chief serves at the mayor’s discretion and does not get the layoff and termination protections classified employees receive.
Compensation follows the framework in Atlanta City Code Section 114-121, which directs the city to “maintain a total rewards system, including wages, salaries, benefits and incentives to attract, retain, develop and value high quality employees at all levels of city government,” with pay tied to a published classification plan and the city budget.2Atlanta, GA. Atlanta Code of Ordinances Chapter 114 Personnel – Section 114-121 Compensation Philosophy In practice, the mayor proposes salary levels during the annual budget cycle, and city council votes on the final figures. Because the number is set through the budget rather than statute, it moves year to year.
For scale, the chief’s roughly $240,890 base pay sits far above the department’s published starting salary for a patrol officer ($60,987) and for lateral hires ($66,395).3Atlanta Police Department. Salary and Benefits Atlanta’s general fund budget for fiscal year 2025 was $853.8 million inside a $2.75 billion total budget, and the police department’s proposed funding alone reached $247 million. Leadership pay is a small slice of that total, but the city has raised executive compensation in recent cycles to keep from losing a chief mid-tenure to a better-paying peer city or to the federal government.
Pension Contributions
Like all sworn Atlanta police employees, the chief participates in the city’s defined-benefit pension system. As of 2025, police employees contribute 11.75 percent of each paycheck to the New Pension Plan, which replaced an earlier structure that split contributions between a standard pension (8 percent) and a supplemental plan (3.75 percent).4Atlanta Police Department. Active Officer Benefits On a salary near $240,000, the employee share alone exceeds $28,000 a year, and the city makes its own employer contribution on top of that.
Atlanta’s pension functions as an alternative to Social Security. Congress required state and local government employees to be covered by Social Security starting in 1991 unless they participate in a qualifying public retirement system, and Atlanta’s plan meets that threshold.5Internal Revenue Service. Government Retirement Plans Toolkit Employee contributions to the pension are tax-deferred, and employer contributions are generally exempt from income tax and FICA until the money is distributed in retirement.
Vehicle, Severance, and Relocation
The Atlanta Police Department runs a take-home vehicle program, and the chief has a city-provided vehicle for both official and commuting use. Around-the-clock availability is part of the job. The personal-use portion of an employer-provided vehicle is a taxable fringe benefit under federal law, and the city reports its value on the chief’s W-2.6Internal Revenue Service. Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits
Severance is a different story. Federal law does not require severance for any employee, public executives included. When severance exists, it comes out of a negotiated agreement rather than statute.7U.S. Department of Labor. Severance Pay Because the chief serves at-will, any severance terms would be part of the original employment agreement.
Relocation benefits, when offered to a chief hired from outside Atlanta, are fully taxable as wages for civilian employees. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended the earlier exclusion under IRC Section 132(g) for employer-paid moving costs. The only exceptions are active-duty military personnel moving under permanent change-of-station orders and certain intelligence community employees.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 132 – Certain Fringe Benefits Some cities use a tax gross-up, where the employer covers the added tax so the executive receives the full intended benefit.
Financial Disclosure Requirements
Georgia’s Ethics in Government Act requires public officers, including appointed municipal executives, to file annual financial disclosure statements. The chief files by July 1 of each non-election year, covering the preceding calendar year, with the municipal clerk.9Justia Law. Georgia Code Title 21-5-50 – Filing by Public Officers The filing covers:
- Honoraria and fees from speaking engagements or seminars tied to official duties.
- Fiduciary positions in any business entity, with the entity’s name, address, and principal activity.
- Direct ownership stakes exceeding 5 percent of a business or worth $5,000 or more, along with the filer’s role.
- Tracts of real property in which the filer holds a direct ownership interest.
These filings become part of the public record and are meant to surface potential conflicts between the chief’s authority over policing and any private financial interests.
How Atlanta Compares
At roughly $240,000, Atlanta’s police chief salary falls in the upper range for major U.S. cities but well below the top. Departments in higher-cost cities on the West Coast and in the Northeast pay more, and both the NYPD commissioner and the LAPD chief oversee far larger forces at higher compensation. Smaller Southern cities generally pay their chiefs under $200,000. Atlanta’s number reflects its position as a major regional hub policing a city of roughly 500,000 residents inside a metro area several times that size, and the city’s recent pattern of raising executive pay reflects a judgment that losing a chief mid-tenure costs more than the salary gap that caused it.