The Lehighton borough council heard a proposal Monday night that could offer fire and emergency medical service volunteers a tax credit on either their property or earned income taxes. Fire Chief Patrick Mriss raised the idea at Monday's council meeting.

Act 172 of 2016 allows municipalities to establish an ordinance that grants a tax credit against a volunteer's earned income or property taxes. The act was created to reward EMS and fire volunteers financially and encourage other members of communities to become volunteers.The act allows municipalities to set the amount of credit they wish to set in their ordinance. Mriss said that the ordinance could only cover the borough but that other surrounding communities could come up with their own."I brought it up at the meeting because the state sees a reason, but also for recruitment and retention within Lehighton," Mriss said. "Now it's in council's hands."Mriss said that there are about 40 volunteer firefighters with the department currently, but that the number is always changing."It's hard to say there's a shortage, but there's always room for more volunteers. You never know how many you're going to have. Sometimes you can pick up one or two people in a month, but then someone's schedule will change."I've said it before, but I'm never going to hang a no vacancy sign at the station."In order to enact such an ordinance, a municipality must make a public notice about its intent to do so. It must also hold at least one public hearing on the issue. Borough manager Nicole Beckett said the council will review the proposal.