Fentress Committee Votes 6% Raise For Emergency Workers

The Fentress County Budget Committee voted Thursday night to provide a six percent salary increase to emergency workers inside the county ambulance service.

Commissioner Kim Davidson said the county needs to provide the best medical service it can provide.

“We don’t have a hospital so we have got to have a good ambulance service,” Davidson said. “Our citizens depend on that and I think we owe that to them. It’s a very competitive market, I think we all know that.”

Davidson said this week the service lost a paramedic. Several budget committee members said that while they value all county employees, there is a difference between those in law enforcement and medical services who put their lives on the line. Commissioner Wade Matthews called it a supply and demand issue.

“When you pay them little and less, that’s what you get,” Davidson said.

The committee also voted to amend last week’s raise for the sheriff’s department. It will only be effective for deputies and correctional officers. If the budget is approved by county commissioners, the raises will be at the discretion of the department head.

For all other county employees, the budget committee approved a four percent raise.

The Fentress Budget Committee has at least one more session before presenting the budget to county commissioners.