CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte firefighters have been pushing for bigger raises and on Monday night, city leaders took a step forward towards honoring that request.
After the city’s draft budget came out in early May, many Charlotte firefighters said their proposed raises in the plan weren’t enough. In light of their heroic work battling the South Park fire, Charlotte City Council voted Monday night to give Charlotte FD more money.
"We don't want the citizens to think that we're using, you know, the tragic events to try to get a pay raise," president of the Charlotte Firefighters’ Association, Tom Brewer, said. "We were asking this stuff long before, we're just asking for fair compensation."
Brewer and other firefighters spoke out against the proposed Charlotte Fire Department raises at Charlotte City Council's public hearing for the budget on May 8.
In past years, police and fire were grouped together when determining pay raises. This year, city staff proposed giving police higher raises in hopes of addressing the agency’s staffing shortage.
"I think the flexibility is, is important sometimes when you have an anomaly," city manager Marcus Jones said when explaining why he chose to separate the two agencies when determining raises.
However, now Jones said he's changing course following the historic South Park fire on May 18.
"After last Thursday and all the great work from both police and fire, it's real tough to say anything other than support for these great folks," Jones added.
The Monday night meeting was a continuation of City Council's May 11 meeting, where members proposed amendments to the draft budget. In the May 11 meeting, Councilman Tariq Bokhari and other members proposed increasing the planned raises for firefighters.
City council voted unanimously Monday to group firefighters and police back together for pay raises. Members also chose to bump the minimum pay for firefighters to $20 an hour.
The proposed raise for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is 8% for every officer. Brewer is hopeful firefighters will get the same.
"We’re feeling a lot more positive, especially from where we were at a few weeks ago," Brewer said.
City Council will vote on whether to approve the Fiscal Year 2024 budget on June 12.
Julia Kauffman: Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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