JAY — Selectpersons will discuss raising the base pay for firefighters and ballot clerks to $9 per hour Monday, Dec. 26, to meet the new minimum wage law that goes into effect Jan. 7.

The meeting is at 6 p.m. at the Town Office.

There are eight firefighters who were identified as needing changes to their wages, Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said.

Two are junior firefighters that make $7.75 an hour; one is a probational employee who makes $8; and five non-officer firefighters have a base pay rate of $8.25, she said.

Ballot clerks currently make $7.50 an hour, and registrars make $8.

“We are proposing to increase both the ballot clerks and registrars to $9 and include this amount in the budgets for 2017-18,” she said.

A proposal would increase pay for firefighters receiving less than $9 per hour to $9 in the budget period from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2017.

Selectpersons will also be asked to consider minimum wage increases on the other Fire Rescue Department positions and then look at any potential increases as part of the 2017-18 budget, LaFreniere said.

In order to absorb the additional cost in the Fire Rescue Department from Jan. 1 to June 30, the captain position that will be vacant as of Jan. 1 is being proposed to be left vacant until June 30.

Cpt. Scott Shink of Jay currently holds the position. He was hired in November as the deputy fire chief of the Livermore Falls Fire Department, Livermore Falls Chief Edward Hastings IV said Friday.

Shink has served as a Jay firefighter for years and has held a variety of positions with the Jay Fire Rescue Department, including fire chief.

dperry@sunmediagroup.net