Augusta County has earned a federal grant worth more than $2 million to hire firefighters, but supervisors can't agree where to place them. The board did vote to give county employees a bonus.
Augusta County supervisors could have voted Wednesday night on a proposed plan by the Augusta fire and rescue chief. He recommends beefing up staff at fire stations in all parts of the county including Weyers Cave, Riverheads, Mount Solon, and the Preston Yancey Fire Department in Fishersville.
Augusta County has nearly 1,000 fire and rescue volunteers. They're supplemented by 59 paid firefighters, but the grant money would take that number to 80.
But after the introduction of "floaters" - firefighters who could be moved each day wherever they're needed - supervisors felt they needed more time. They plan to have a work session in the next couple of weeks.
Supervisors did, however, vote to give the roughly 300 people who work for Augusta County a sizeable bonus. The one-time chunk of money will give full-time employees $1,000 and part-time employees $500. The checks are expected to go out in December.
