SPANISH FORT – First responders and some other city employees who have been working in Spanish Fort during the coronavirus outbreak could receive a pay bonus of up to 5 percent under a proposal being considered by the City Council.
On April 20, Mayor Mike McMillan said police, firefighters and public works employees who have continued to work outside during the outbreak should be considered for extra pay. He recommended 5 percent to be paid after the outbreak was declared under control.
“I’d like the council to consider, once we get through this pandemic that we’re in, to look at perhaps some type of one-time pay adjustment for first responders and-or our Public Works Department who are working diligently out there,” McMillan said. “As you know, we do a limited staff here at City Hall. We do have a lot of people who are working from home, but the first responders and our Public Works Department are all on the clock on their normal shifts at this point.”
A 5-percent bonus for police and public works employees would cost the city about $2,000 for each two-week pay period, McMillan said. Paid firefighters would add about $1,000 for each pay period, Roger Few, chief of the Spanish Fort Volunteer Fire Department, said.
McMillan said the bonus would only be for work done during the outbreak. An employee who took vacation time during the period would not receive the extra money for those hours.
Councilman Curt Smith said that if Gov. Kay Ivey’s stay at home order is lifted in May, first responders could be called on to do even more.
“I do have some concern with all the talk about reopening and so forth, it could get a little different for our first responders,” he said. “It could get worse. I don’t know what it would look like, but I’d imagine trying to enforce social distancing and establish reopening. Crime is going to go back up.”
Councilman J.R. Smith said the outbreak has already hurt the local economy and city tax revenue. He said if that continues, Spanish Fort could end up in a situation where some employees’ pay has to be cut or workers laid off.
He said the council should consider whether to commit to paying bonuses to some workers if cuts have to be made for others.
“Something else to take into consideration is not knowing how long this could last, I know we don’t want to cut any hours from any employees, but if this were to end up lasting long enough that we were having to ask people to cut hours,” J.R. Smith said. “I don’t want it to look like we’re having to ask these employees to cut time and they’re not even going to get a full paycheck and the people that were able to work, we’re going to give them bonuses.”
