The first concrete step toward the creation of a new police department for Pinson is scheduled to be taken this Thursday night.

The Pinson City Council heard in last Thursday’s session the first reading of an ordinance that would add to the current two percent sales tax on most goods, and one percent on vehicles and heavy equipment.

Councilman Joe Cochran has proposed doubling the city’s share of sales taxes to four percent, which would make the overall tax rate 10 percent when state and county taxes are thrown into the mix. The additional revenue would go toward establishment of a new police department, which would replace the city’s contract with Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale that provides for as many as four additional deputies dedicated to patrolling Pinson.

The council has not approved Cochran’s plan yet, and he has also expressed openness to possibly adding still more contract deputies, and setting up a substation with a commanding officer to supervise those additional deputies.

If the sales tax is increased in this week’s council session and the police department proposal is approved, Cochran plans for the proceeds to accumulate for up to 2 1/2 years before the force opens for business, to cover the costs of moving the Pinson City Library into a new facility at the Rock School Center, setting up the department in the library’s old space, and buying items like patrol vehicles, weapons and such.

Meanwhile, the council also approved a one-year extension of the sheriff’s current contract, which will keep the additional deputies on city streets through Nov. 30, 2016.

“This in no way is any indication of which way we’re going regarding a police department,” Mayor Hoyt Sanders said. “It just extends the current contract, and there’s no other changes to it.”

In other business, Library Director April Wallace told the council that the 2015 fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30, broke many records for the facility.

The library checked out 78,277 physical items — books, recordings and such — and 5,959 digital items over the fiscal year, which ranked 10th among the 40 Jefferson County library locations. Attendance at 170 library events totaled 4,705 people.

Sanders also announced that this year’s Christmas Parade will begin at 10 a.m. on Dec. 5. In celebration of Pinson’s bicentennial, the grand marshals will be descendants of the founders of the community.

The council also approved spending $2,200 on extended concrete shoulders for walkways at the new Pinson Bicentennial Park, plus $4,700 for painting at the Community Center, and also annexed five parcels into the city.