Falkville Council approved salary increases for eight employees at a regular meeting Aug. 5.

The new pay scale reflects a budgetary gain of $21,493.94 resulting from the departure of Chris Free as police chief and a replacement hire in a police officer position.

It brings the hourly wage of all five officers in the police department to above $15 per hour and absorbs step raises for five employees in non-police positions.

“This is about being competitive in a growing north Alabama labor market,” said Mayor Ken Winkles. “Everywhere you look employers are paying more to keep productive employees on their payrolls.

“We were fortunate to be able to adjust our pay scale even though our revenues are down a little from last year,” he added. “The figures show we’re still about $12,000 below

what we have budgeted for payroll this fiscal year.”

The pay scale adjustment affects the following employees: Jacob Raburn, from $14.09

to $15.17 per hour; Cody Hudgins, from $14.80 to $15.55 per hour; William Riley, from $16.34 to 17.16 per hour; Aaron Burgess, from $50,411.50 to $54,287.67 after 90 days probation; Jeff Pike, from $18.47 to $19.41 per hour; Lance Stidham, from $15.93 to $16.73 per hour; Jenny Asherbranner, from $16.43 to $17.27 per hour; Bonnie Thompson, from $16.73 to 17.58 per hour; and Kay Saint, from $13.40 to $14.08 per hour.

The new salaries were made effective with the first pay [period in August.

The council acted on other matters as follows:

• Approved a building permit inspection increase to $30 per inspection
• Approved a $4,000 appropriation to the Falkville High School football program for football helmets
• Approved a $1,000 appropriation to Loves for the Children’s Miracle Network
• Approved Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood as the lowest responsible bidder for Disaster Debris Monitoring Service for $142,935 in the event of a disaster
• Accepted a quote of $1,607.27 monthly to provide state of the art technology by IT professionals

Mayor Winkles invited everyone to the third annual Coffee with the Mayor Sept. 19 from 8:30-9:30 a.m. in the municipal building. There is no cost, and no RSVP is required.