AUSTINTOWN FIREFIGHTERS Trustees likely to vote on contract this month

A trustee said firefighters have agreed to some co-payment for health insurance.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Township trustees likely will vote on a new contract for firefighters by the end of this month, township officials say.
A tentative agreement was reached Thursday after about 21/2 hours of negotiations. Township and union representatives wouldn't give many details about the agreement, saying they wanted to wait until it was finalized.
Township Administrator Michael Dockry said trustees most likely will vote on the contract at their meeting May 26.
Trustee Richard Edwards said the agreement calls for firefighters to make some co-pay for health insurance. Edwards said trustees have documentation to prove insurance costs have increased 24 percent this year.
"There certainly was some pretty good movement on their part and there was some good movement on our part," he said of the negotiations.
What union wanted
Firefighters didn't want a co-pay and asked for a 3-percent raise in each year of a three-year contract. Trustees had asked firefighters to contribute to health care and to accept a wage freeze this year.
The firefighters' contract, as well as the contract for police officers and police dispatchers, expired at the end of last year. Township officials are still negotiating with police and dispatchers.
Atty. Dennis Haines, representing firefighters, said the agreement was created with the firefighters' and trustees' concerns and interests in mind. He called the negotiations "cordial and friendly."
Trustees and firefighters had been scheduled to participate in a hearing for binding conciliation, the state's term for arbitration, Thursday morning. Negotiations began after a state conciliator made an opening statement to trustees and firefighters about wages and benefits, Edwards said.
Good and bad
Edwards said he believes the agreement is both good and bad for the township. On one hand, the firefighters made concessions that will help the township save money on health-care costs, he said. On the other hand, the agreement didn't solve the township's budget problems. Trustees most likely will have to lay off additional employees in the future, he said.
Trustees have furloughed several employees and made other budget cuts, including closing fire station No. 4, to save about $750,000 so far this year. Township officials project a $1.2 million deficit at the end of this year without cuts.
Trustee David Ditzler said he was disappointed with the agreement, and believes the township can't afford to make concessions.
"The unfortunate part, in my opinion, is that nobody wins in this because there wasn't the ability to give anyone anything," he said.
Ditzler said he had hoped the firefighters would want to make concessions so trustees could re-open station No. 4 on South Turner Road. Trustees closed the station earlier this month to save about $6,000 this year.
The closing is the first step in a plan that would lead trustees to lay off some part-time firefighters. Some of those firefighters have said they don't believe the township will save money through the closing, which they believe will put residents in harm's way.
"I'd have rather seen [contract issues] be addressed so the part-time stations could be utilized to the fullest," Ditzler said. He said he wanted to go to binding conciliation, but other township officials disagreed.
Ditzler added, however, that "I don't know if there was a better solution. I'm sure that we'll agree collectively that this is the best plan for us at this point," he said.
hill@vindy.com