By Eileen Buckley
Buffalo, NY – Buffalo Firefighters might be getting a pay raise soon. Mayor Byron Brown wants to give City firefighters a 5.5% pay increase.
Mayor Brown calls the proposed pay hikes a fair deal. The pay raises would be retroactive to last July when the city's wage freeze was lifted.
Buffalo firefighters have not received a pay hike since 2001. But Mayor Brown believes it is time to give firefighters a wage hike.
The proposed pay hike must be approved by the Common Council and Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority. But Brown says wage increases for firefighters must be paid under a court order.
On average, the City's more than 700 firefighters active and disabled retired would each receive a $3,387 pay increase.
The Mayor says the pay hikes would cost the city $3.6 million annually.
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