Brookfield Trustees voted Monday evening to raise the pay of part-time emergency medical technicians and paramedics.

Paramedics were given a raise from $8.25 to $8.50 an hour; and part-time EMTs received a raise from $6.75 to $7. Trustees agreed to reopen the issue after six months.

Fire Chief Keith Barrett, who said the raises are three years overdue, first requested raises of 50 cents an hour for EMTs and 75 cents for paramedics.

Barrett explained to trustees that while there are plenty of EMTs on the market, paramedics are rare. Pay increases keep Brookfield in the competitive market, he said.

In other townships, such as Howland, paramedics are making $9 to $10 an hour, he said.

"We haven't had a pay increase in three years. That's why we're not competitive anymore and we keep losing people," Barrett said. "It would be OK if we did something every year instead of letting it slide. When you try to play catch up to every department it puts a hit on you."

Trustee Gary Lees suggested the raise be 25 cents an hour instead. Barrett said he could go with that, but added that employees wouldn't be happy with the smaller raise.

"Let's do something and see what kind of reaction we get," he said.

In other business, trustees increased the pay of Scott Williams, ambulance driver, from $6.75 to $7.50 an hour. Trustees also approved the hiring of part-time firefighter/EMT Eric Gardner of Petersburg, Ohio, at $6.75 an hour.