GREENFIELD — The Greenfield City Council unanimously approved a salary increase for police officers and firefighters at its meeting on Wednesday, June 9.
The pay increase passed on its first reading but will need to go back before the council at its next meeting on June 23 for final approval.
Assuming the ordinance passes on its second and third readings, all law enforcement employees of the Greenfield Police Department will receive a raise of $4,500, and all firefighting employees of the Greenfield Fire Territory will receive a raise of $3,875.50.
The police pay raises would cost the city a total of $233,973 per year, while the fire territory raises would cost an additional $241,799.71. Both numbers include the increased amount the city will pay into pensions.
Greenfield Mayor Chuck Fewell worked with the fire and police chiefs as well as the city’s clerk-treasurer and HR director to find an amount for the raises that was sustainable within the city’s budget. The adjustments also are seen as a step to address the departments’ concerns about losing personnel to other municipalities that can offer higher pay.
Fewell thanked the police and fire departments for their recent work in dealing with closures on State Road 9 and elsewhere in the city.
Council member Dan Riley agreed.
“I see all of the city employees, police, fire, everybody, helping people out, and that’s a big job,” he said.
The raise for Greenfield employees also highlights an issue for the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department, which has struggled with similar issues of recruiting and retaining employees, and where a months-long dispute about pay raises is ongoing. Other fire departments in the county have also appealed to the county government for help covering their personnel costs.