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Hubbard City Council addresses proposed wage increase for part-time police officers
By SARAH LEHR
HUBBARD
Proposed legislation would increase the pay for part-time Hubbard City police officers to $12 per hour from $10 per hour.
Part-time officers do not receive medical benefits and are not permitted to work more than 32 hours a week.
Council voted during a meeting Monday night to send the proposed wage increase to a second reading. Council typically votes on passage after a third reading.
Also during the meeting, Ray Fallen, chairman of the Hubbard Fire Board, spoke in favor of a tax levy to be presented to voters on November’s ballot.
The proposed 1-mill five-year levy would tax Hubbard residents no more than $0.10 for each $100 of valuation.
The tax, which would be collected beginning in 2016, would go toward building and equipment and would bring in about $200,000 a year in additional revenue, Fallen said.
The Eagle Joint Fire District, which serves the city and Hubbard Township, collects about $300,000 a year from tax revenue, Fallen said.
Fallen said the levy is necessary because the fire district still operates off a budget set in 2006 and the price of equipment has increased since then.
“The problem is everything costs a lot more than it used to,” Fallen said. “If someone’s willing to get up at 3 a.m. in zero-degree weather to a fight a fire, then I’d call that person a hero, and I think we need to support our firefighters and support safety.”
Mayor John Darko also expressed his support for the fire levy.