Contract negotiations to discuss a pay raise for Texarkana, Texas firefighters is creating financial concerns for city officials on the Arkansas-side.
City leaders say they've struggled to keep pay parity with the Texas-side for the last two decades.
The city is obligated by a 1996 ordinance to keep pay for police and fire on par with the Texas-side. Just recently, the city struggled to come up with a pay increase for police and fire, after the Texas-side enacted raises for all city employees in 2016.
Now that the Texas-side local fire union is requesting more pay from the city, Texarkana, Arkansas City Manager Kenny Haskin is concerned they could be facing another budget crisis.