Hernando Mayor Warns of Staff Losses Without 3% Raise
HERNANDO - Hernando's mayor told the Board of Aldermen the city could lose more police officers and firefighters without a pay increase this year.
At an Aug. 27 budget workshop, the mayor, presiding over the meeting, said the city needs to grant at least a 3% raise to keep pace with rising costs. "If we don't at least give a 3% raise, then they're going really backwards because we're raising, you know, we've got a higher health premium... cost of living's gone up and we're all every department is working understaffed across the whole city," the mayor said, according to a meeting recording. The remarks came as aldermen reviewed the coming year's budget, which the mayor described as "bare bones."
No vote or formal decision on the raise was recorded during the discussion.
The comments put a specific figure on pressures many local governments face: balancing tight budgets against the risk of losing police and fire personnel to better-paying jobs elsewhere. Rising health insurance premiums and cost-of-living increases were cited as factors squeezing city payrolls, alongside existing staffing shortages described as affecting every department in Hernando.