Council members agreed to increase the city of Harbor Beach's fire department's subsidy by nearly 10 percent at this week's meeting.
The city’s share of the fire department subsidy will be $70,000. Sand Beach Township, which splits financial support with the department, will add another $70,000 to the subsidy.
According to Harbor Beach Mayor Gary Booms, the subsidy has been around $64,000 for the past several years. He explained the increase in funding was necessitated by several things.
First, he said, the department added new firefighters. Booms said there are several pieces of equipment that need to be replaced or repaired in the near future. He also noted there have been many more calls for assistance in the past year.
“Calls have almost tripled," he said.