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Salaries increased for next Grove Hill mayor and council members The Grove Hill Town Council approved Tuesday an increase in salary for the mayor and council members for the next four-year terms starting after the Aug. 26 municipal election. The monthly salary for the mayor will increase from $500 to $800, and the monthly salary for a council member will increase from $250 to $400. Council member Pat McGraw opposed the salary increase. There has not been a salary raise since 2000, said Mayor Lamar Hudson. "This council has done a terrific job," he said. "…For the work these people do, they deserve a lot more than this." Former mayor Willie Welch was very vocal at the meeting opposing the salary increase. He complained that the council has recently raised the price of business licenses then turned around and raised the council salaries. "You're losing businesses," Welch said. "You're running businesses off." He was also concerned about the hourly rate being paid town employees. "We don't need to go patting ourselves on the back," McGraw said. She thought of the council seat as more of a volunteer position. "That $1,050 (the total amount of the salary increase) needs to be put in a fund and given to employees as a bonus for Christmas or the end of the year. We don't need it." "The employees are making a decent wage," the mayor said. In other action from Tuesday's meeting, the council approved designated Enterprise Zones in the town including the county industrial park and land around the airport. The zones are intended to stimulate economic development, attracting new business and aiding existing industries. Businesses in the zones benefit from the abatement of ad valorem and sales taxes, but not school taxes, for a period of 10 years. Zones have already been designated in Thomasville and Jackson.
• Clarke County deputy Joe Allen was hired as a police officer.
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