Trustees to offer 3% raises

One trustee said the township needs to pave its roads before giving raises.
& lt;a href=mailto:hill@vindy.com & gt;By IAN HILL & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Township trustees are planning to offer 3 percent annual raises to the township's office staff and road department employees through new union contracts.
The raises would be retroactive to the beginning of this year and continue through 2006, township Administrator Michael Dockry said. Trustees had a closed-door executive session meeting Monday night to consider offering the raises.
After the executive session, Trustees Bo Pritchard and David Ditzler voted to offer the raises as part of the new contracts. Trustee Lisa Oles was opposed. They voted only on the raises, not entire contract offers.
Pritchard and Ditzler also voted to approve an entire contract offer for the part-time firefighters that included 3 percent annual raises. Oles again voted no.
Trustees voted to include the raises in the contract offer earlier this year.
Raises for the part-time firefighters would be retroactive to 2002 and continue through 2005.
Bob Bernat, business agent and treasurer for Teamsters Local 377, which represents all three groups of employees, said he wouldn't comment on the raise offers until he discussed them with the employees.
The township's contracts with the office staff and road department expired at the end of last year, and the part-time firefighters have been negotiating for two years for their first union pact.
Raises in budget
Township Clerk Michael Kurish said he hadn't determined how much the raises would cost but noted that money for 3 percent office staff and road department raises had been included in the township's budget for this year.
If trustees decided they couldn't afford the raises in the future, they most likely would lay off employees or decide not to replace employees who retire, are fired or quit, Kurish said.
The township ended last year with a deficit because of cost increases in insurance, workers' compensation and wages, and decreases in revenue. It also was still feeling the financial effects of an unexpected $460,000 tax refund it had to pay to Phar-Mor in late 2002.
Kurish has predicted the township will have a $300,000 carry-over at the end of this year, in part because a few large construction projects are expected to lead to a record year for zoning permit fees. The township also is expected to benefit from Mahoning County's efforts to collect unpaid taxes.
But unless the township receives additional revenue next year, it could face a deficit, Kurish has said.
Trustees plan to cut their annual road-paving program this summer in an effort to save money. They also did not pave roads last summer.
Oles said she can't justify voting for the raises for the road department employees and office staff while the township can't afford to pave roads.
"I was looking at it as a matter of priority. I think the priority would be to resurface the roads," she said.
Defending raises
Ditzler said he believes the office staff and road department workers should get the raises in part because they saved money for the township by making concessions and agreeing to help pay for their health-care costs.
He added that office staff and the road department have lived within their budgets during the township's financial troubles, and that they have worked hard to adjust to staff changes stemming from the township's budget cuts.
The part-time firefighters have yet to discuss their contract offer from trustees. Walt Donitzen, shop steward for the firefighters, said the firefighters and trustees have been at odds over the number of guaranteed work hours in the proposed contract.
Trustees would guarantee that part-time firefighters work 8,760 hours each year, but Donitzen said part-time firefighters have been working between 12,000-14,000 hours each year.
Oles said she voted against the contract offer for part-time firefighters because she wanted to guarantee them about 12,000 hours.
But Ditzler stressed that trustees must ensure that the contract doesn't require part-time firefighters to take work from the full-time firefighters in order to meet the guaranteed number of hours.
Trustees also still have to negotiate a contract with the township park department employees, who joined the Teamsters earlier this year. All but eight of the township's 98 full-time employees are members of unions.
& lt;a href=mailto:hill@vindy.com & gt;hill@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;