The Hanceville Fire Station is seen in this Times 2013 photo.

HANCEVILLE — After years of making do with wages far beneath those paid by many other Alabama municipalities, Hanceville’s firefighters are about to see a significant pay increase.

Following approval last week of the city’s 2018 budget, Hanceville’s three full-time firefighters will enjoy a $6,000 annual jump in their pay, with salaries set to rise from just under $22,000 per year to just under $28,000.

The change also applies to the city’s single part-time firefighter, whose pay will be raised at the same scale.

While department employees will still make less than firefighters in larger cities — including the City of Cullman — the higher salary represents a first step toward incrementally raising firefighters’ pay as Hanceville’s annual budget allows, said Mayor Kenneth Nail.

“Honestly, if nothing else got funded this year, my number one priority in this budget was the fire department, because they’ve done such a good job for us, even while they’ve been badly underpaid for years,” Nail said.

“We did the best we could with the revenues we had, and we worked with the fire department well ahead of time to get their approval and make sure everybody was on the same page. And we’re gonna continue to try to do better as time goes on. This is just a first step.”

The increase essentially equalizes the starting pay for Hanceville’s fire and police departments.

“A rookie certified policeman and a rookie certified firefighter — their yearly pay will now be about the same,” Nail explained.

“In terms of hours worked, the fire department is a different animal from the police department, and they [firefighters] do spend more hours on the job. But they understand that, and they’re happy with this raise. It’s been a long time coming.”

The raise does not affect Fire Chief Rodger Green, whose pay was increased at the same five-percent rate awarded to all other city employees for 2018.

Thanks to the larger raise the firefighters received, the five-percent municipal pay raise does not apply to them this year — although Nail noted they would be eligible for any future across-the-board increases.

The raises for both firefighters and municipal employees were highlights in the 2018 budget, which the Hanceville City Council passed on a 5-1 vote at a lengthy regular meeting late last week. Council member Charles Wilson cast the lone vote against passing the budget, urging the rest of the council to take more time to review it.

The pre-adjusted 2018 budget reflects $3,773,600 in revenues and $3,652,552 in expenses.