LOMPOC - Back in 1991 the Lompoc City Council authorized supplemental salary and health benefits for city employees called to military duty as reservists during the first Gulf War.
Now the current Lompoc City Council is being asked to extend those same supplemental salary and health benefits for active duty military that are also city employees, as well as a limited paid leave of absence.
"We've had half a dozen or more employees over the years", says Lompoc Mayor John Linn, " back in Desert Storm we had a number of police officers that went, this most recent one, we've had one employee, I think he's in the Coast Guard and he's gone on several deployments."
With ongoing troop withdrawals and transfers, the City believes there' a potential for more city employees to be called to active duty.
But city staff cannot say exactly how many employees are, or will be, eligible for the supplemental benefit package, nor can it say how much it will cost the city through the end of 2014.
Still, the City Council is expected to extend the supplemental benefits package.
"Do the right thing, take care of those who protect us, that's what we have to do, we have to take care of our own", Mayor Linn says, "remember, freedom is not free, it has to be paid for, this is our little contribution to it."
The supplemental salary and health benefits package for active duty city employees ends within one year after they leave the military.
