Spring Lake firefighters will no longer be docked pay for the hours at the station when they are on duty, but which are designated for sleeping, the town's Board of Aldermen decided in a unanimous vote earlier this month.
Spring Lake interim Town Manager Jason Williams, who is also the town's fire chief, told the board it is considered industry standard to pay firefighters for sleep time, defined as the period between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
“What’s happening right now is our fire department stays the night when they are on shift. However, the town deducts time or money from them when they are on sleep time,” Spring Lake Mayor Kia Anthony said at the March 11 meeting before the vote.
Anthony said the pay change would be instead of a raise, which was what Willliams requested.
“I don’t think we can sustain (a raise) at the moment, but we can stop charging them for their sleep time and that would add to their pay," Anthony said.
When asked by Anthony how paying firefighters their sleep time would impact the town’s annual budget, Williams said that it would cost the town "somewhere around $75,000-$100,000."
The mayor said that prioritizing pay issues for the Spring Lake Police Department and the Spring Lake Fire Department is an important step toward retaining those employees.
“This does not mean that we are not still going to conduct a pay study and we are looking at trying to address the pay issues across the board for all town of Spring Lake employees," she said.
The small town on the northern edge of Fort Liberty has been in the news in recent weeks after the abrupt departure of Spring Lake Police Chief Dysoaneik Spellman. At the same meeting, the board voted to raise the pay for police by 20%.
Previously Reported:What does the average Spring Lake town employee make? Here's everything you need to know.
Reporter Lizmary Evans covers growth and development for The Fayetteville Observer. You can reach her at LEvans@gannett.com
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