Fact finder recommends changes in Girard

GIRARD — A fact finding report suggest a few changes be made to the new contract between the city and firefighters, but many points brought before the fact finder would remain unchanged.

Issues addressed in the report include vacation, overtime, health insurance and salaries among other things.

The city proposed a 1 percent pay raise in the first and second years and a 1.5 percent raise in the third year along with a tiered wage agreement.

The bargaining unit asked for 3.5 percent raises in each of the three years of the contract. The department accepted no raises in its last contract.

The firefighters’ bargaining unit consist of three captains and nine firefighters.

Auditor Sam Zirafi said firefighters earn a base salary of about $42,000 to $45,000, with captains earning about $48,000 to $50,000.

The fact finder recommended a 2 percent raise in each of the three years of the contract and suggested the tiered wage agreement be implemented to save the city additional dollars with impending retirements.

According to Jerry Lambert, safety services director for the city, city employees currently pay $15 per pay for a single person policy and $30 per pay for family medical coverage. He said the city agreed to maintain the current contribution, but the city expects to pay about $1,385 per employee for insurance and asked that employees split any costs above the $1,385 evenly with the city should premiums increase.

The premium split was rejected by the fact finder.

“If the other [bargaining units] have agreed to this and [the firefighters] are given something different, how is that fair?” said Lambert.

For more, see Saturday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com