FIREFIGHTERS Trustees delay voting on part-timers' contract

Trustees are looking at a $75,000 rise in workers' comp premiums.
AUSTINTOWN -- Township trustees have delayed a vote on a contract with part-time firefighters while they consider how to address a possible increase in the cost of workers' compensation.
Trustee David Ditzler said state officials told the township Tuesday that part-time firefighters would be reclassified for workers' compensation, and as a result, the township may have to pay an additional $75,000 this year.
"It's outrageous to pay $75,000 extra," Ditzler said. Part-time firefighters had been classified similar to full-time firefighters.
Because of the state changes, the part-time firefighters would be considered similar to volunteer firefighters, Ditzler said.
Approval was expected
Trustees had been expected to approve their first contract with part-time firefighters Wednesday night. The three-year contract, retroactive to 2003, calls for part-time firefighters to receive 3 percent annual raises. Part-time firefighters also are guaranteed to work at least 9,000 hours each year under the contract, which is slated to cost the township a total of about $456,000 over three years.
Ditzler said trustees delayed voting on the contract because they wanted to discuss the possible increase in workers' compensation costs with Fire Chief Andrew Frost, who was sick and not at the trustees' meeting.
"We're looking for options to offset that," Ditzler said. On Wednesday, after a closed-door executive session, trustees voted to hire two college students to cut township lawns at $6 an hour and a Mahoning County Career and Technical Center student to help with township maintenance at $6.50 an hour.