Gulfport mayor proposes raises for fire and police dept. in new budget

The Gulfport mayor is proposing raises for firefighters and city police.

At a special called meeting Tuesday night, Mayor Billy Hewes presented his proposed budget for the next fiscal year.

The mayor’s budget was flat for most departments except for first responders. He did not say how much the raises would be, but said it would be a competitive rate.

Mayor Hewes believes this will help with recruitment and retention. “This year, we recognize that we really need to bolster the police and fire departments. In particular, we’ve had challenges with attrition, with recruiting. The police, in general, are under duress from a national perspective. But, quite frankly, they are the differences in our community. We’ve got some growing challenges in Gulfport and having a good, strong police force is critical and so that’s where we’re putting a lot of our focus with the budget this year.”

The city is still working through the budget right now.