Mount Pleasant, South Carolina – The Mount Pleasant Human Resources committee approved a 4% wage increase adjustment for first responders. This comes after the majority of Mount Pleasant community Council members decided Monday to allow the community extra time to carefully deploy the money.
Mount Pleasant authorized $3.6 million in money to hire more police and firefighters on Monday, but returned more than $1 million in prospective compensation hikes to committees.
First responders believe the municipality is headed in the right direction.
“I think the education incentives they’ve established or improved upon, as well as the certification for certain technical aspects of our career, were a huge step forward in the right direction,” said Mount Pleasant Fire Union President Geoffery Evans. “I definitely think the 4% would only hammer home the fact that the towns are working to help our first responders.”
Mount Pleasant has been attempting to improve first responder salaries after a compensation analysis indicated that they were not as competitive as those in adjacent municipalities.
In September, the Mount Pleasant council voted 5-4 to establish the mileage rate at 3.7 mills, resulting in an increase in property taxes for Mount Pleasant residents.
On Monday, a special council meeting was planned to budget the wage study’s several phases. Mount Pleasant successfully completed Phases 1 and 2 of hiring more employees.
While the council supported enhancing first responder compensation, the majority decided that the salary increases be evaluated by the committee first. Council members stated that budget items often take months of consideration and are assessed by many committees.
While the entire Mount Pleasant council has stated that they support enhancing first responder compensation, there is debate over the best means to accomplish so.
“The only difference is how we compensate them. “Not if we pay them,” stated Councilmember Mike Tinkey. “But how we pay them and the second is deliberations on things that take time to make sure we adequately and effectively take care of the staff persons themselves and the community at large.”
On Wednesday, a special human resources committee was formed after the majority of the council agreed to have wage hikes reviewed by the committee first. The human resources committee unanimously approved the 4% salary adjustment for first responders.
“I’m so excited, I’ve got goosebumps,” remarked Councilmember John Iacofano. “It still needs to go to council; the public and citizens have spoken up. The money is there, and we don’t want it going anywhere other than first responders.”
This enables firefighters to continue working in the town where they have established a community.
“20 years with a department, you see that department grow, you’ve been able to mentor members of that department, you’ve been able to see the members grow, so staying with the department for 20 to 30 years is huge,” Evans told me.
The human resources committee intends to present it to council on Tuesday night, but it may still be scrutinized by other committees, including the police, judicial and legal, fire, and finance committees.
