Premium pay ending for Dennison safety forces members
DENNISON (WJER) (June 27, 2023) – More of the federal money the village received to rebound from the pandemic will be going toward sprucing up the downtown.
Officials had enough set aside to continue quarterly premium pay bonuses for the village’s full-time firefighters and police officers through the end of September, but that’s no longer an option. Mayor Greg DiDonato says the extra pay was contingent on the COVID-19 Emergency Declaration, which ended April 10th.
“So due to the fact of no emergency, under the way their money works, that federal money that we were using to give them an extra dollar an hour, that can no longer be paid.”
DiDonato updated council on the situation last Wednesday and recommended putting the $11,000 or so they planned to use for bonuses after the cutoff toward the storm sewer replacement and repaving project on Grant Street and other downtown improvements.
“There were four categories – premium pay, the downtown lighting, sidewalks, and the roads – so my suggestion is the $11,000 will just be thrown into the downtown because that’s what we approved it for, which to be frank with you, there’s a good possibility the costs will come in higher than we initially planned because it’s been two and a half years since we started.”
DiDonato says the most recent bonus covered January through March, so the eight employees who qualify still have one more check coming for the first 10 days in April.