Portsmouth will give police officers, firefighters and other emergency workers $1,000 apiece to keep working in the city.
The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to give the one-time stipend next month to those employees, as well as paramedics and dispatchers. The proposal, submitted to the council by human resources director Elizabeth Gooden, says Portsmouth will spend about $860,000 on the incentive without adding to its operating budget.
It comes with one condition: Recipients must stick around through at least the start of the next fiscal year – July 1 – to keep the cash. Otherwise, they have to return it.