Taylor County commissioners debate $3-an-hour firefighter pay boost after repeated station closures

Commissioner Jerry Fiegel urged the board to act after the county experienced multiple temporary fire-station closures, including a 24-hour closure at a beach-area station and multi-day closures elsewhere, leaving portions of Taylor County with reduced local coverage. "This seems to be getting more frequent," Fiegel said, and asked the board to "reconsider the salaries to see if we could raise our firefighters by $3 an hour" to improve staffing.

The county administrator, LaWanda Pemberton, and other commissioners discussed trade-offs and budget constraints. Pemberton explained that any recurring pay increase funded from MSTU (Municipal Service Taxing Unit) reserves would reduce funds available for other services that MSTU covers, including animal control, building and mosquito control, and cautioned about sustaining the increase next year if taxable values decline. "I just wanna make sure that everyone understands if this were funded, where the funds would come from," she said.

Several commissioners objected to raising pay for one department without comparable increases for other county employees. "We're gonna raise salaries of any employee. We're gonna raise all of them. We're not gonna just pay one department," one commissioner said, arguing that a targeted raise could produce morale issues elsewhere.

Fire department leaders and staff described operational impacts from short staffing: stations were closed when shifts could not be filled despite using part-timers and overtime; part-timers are limited to 30 hours per week; mutual aid is used but can increase response times for nearby residents. The fire chief (unnamed in the transcript) said crews still answer calls but noted that "there's one less person that can be on a fire scene" on days when staffing is thin, which reduces resources available at incidents.

Staff provided cost estimates previously in the record: a $1-per-hour increase for firefighters would cost roughly $72,851 a year (including salary, overtime and fringe); $2 an hour would be roughly $145,701 a year. Commissioners also discussed interim options such as additional overtime, recruiting incentives, or a modest across-the-board 50-cent increase previously proposed.

Commissioner Fiegel made a formal motion to increase firefighter pay by $3 an hour. The transcript records extended debate about funding, operational impacts and equity but does not include a final roll-call vote on Commissioner Fiegel’s motion during the meeting record. Several commissioners said they supported smaller increases (for example, 50 cents across the board) or favored exploring options and identifying sustainable funding during the January budget sessions.

The meeting record shows the board sought to balance urgent operational needs, limited recruitment pools for volunteer and paid firefighters, and long-term budget sustainability; staff committed to return to the board with budget options as part of the regular budget process.