GAINESVILLE – An effort to create a stronger presence along the Cleveland Highway corridor by local authorities now includes a plan by the Gainesville Police Department to construct a new precinct on property adjoining the city’s recently completed Fire Station #2.
Tuesday evening the Gainesville City Council unanimously approved the purchase of 0.81-acres fronting Cleveland Highway from America’s Home Place of Gainesville.
City Manager Bryan Lackey told city council the 0.81-acre site sits in front of the new fire facility and to the side of the lengthy fire station driveway but is not a part of the complex; purchasing the property would complete the rectangle of land owned by the city at that location.
The pay raise is currently expected to go into effect the first pay period in January.
Lackey said a pay raise between four and five percent was originally being considered when the fiscal year 2021 budget was being built in March of 2020. However, this idea was halted due to concerns about the economic impacts of COVID-19.
This plan recently resurfaced due to city revenues exceeding what was originally projected, according to Lackey.
“The reality has been much better than our projections … February, we started that trend and we thought it was going to be bad … but then you see what’s happened in March [and] since then. Our revenues have been much stronger, especially on our sales tax,” Lackey said.
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