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Union pact to test budget caution
The union has already approved the contract.
YOUNGSTOWN — With the city facing a deficit of more than $3 million that will probably lead to layoffs, city council will consider a contract for water department workers that calls for pay increases of 8.7 percent over the life of the three-year deal.
While council considers the deal, Mayor Jay Williams was to meet today first with members of his Cabinet and later in the day with the heads of the city’s six major employee unions to discuss ways to reduce the budget deficit including salary and benefit concessions.
Without cuts, the city would need to eliminate 60 workers — or the financial equivalent, $3.9 million in salary and benefits — by July 1. It’s also possible deeper cuts are needed, city administration officials say.
Under normal financial conditions, the three-year contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2726, which represents about 40 water department employees, would be reasonable, city officials say.
The contract, already approved by the union, calls for a 2.5-percent raise this year followed by 3-percent annual raises in 2009 and 2010; or about 8.7-percent when compounded over the life of the deal.
The contract calls for no increase in uniform allowance and keeps the $350 the city gives each union member in parking compensation annually, unless they get free parking spots in city lots.
Members would continue to pay 10 percent of their monthly health insurance premiums. The city pays $412 a month for single health care coverage and $1,042 for family coverage.
A tentative agreement between city and union negotiators was reached and the union ratified the contract March 14.
Council has to accept or reject the deal by April 14. If no action is taken, the contract is automatically accepted, according to Law Director Iris Torres Guglucello. The city has asked the union to give an extension but hasn’t heard from AFSCME yet.
A vote on the contract is not on council’s Wednesday meeting agenda, but it can be brought in as a late ordinance. “I’m looking for pay freezes; it’s a logical step,” said Councilman Paul Drennen, D-5th. “You’re entitled to a raise every year ... I’d like to see pay freezes this year as a general rule because I want to save jobs.”
Councilwoman Annie Gillam, D-1st, said: “I don’t want AFSCME to give back more than any other union would give back. I’d like everyone to work together on this issue. We need to have trust. Everyone should give up something, but it has to be equal.”
The city expects to end this year with a $3,035,704 deficit that would grow to about $6 million by Dec. 31, 2009, if no cuts are made.
The park and recreation department will take the first hit because seasonable and part-time workers are the first to be cut during layoffs, Jason Whitehead, interim park and recreation commissioner and the mayor’s chief of staff/secretary, told the commission Monday.
Whitehead said the city’s two public pools will open this summer. The management of the pools may be outsourced to a private company if the department can’t hire enough workers to handle that responsibility, he said.
skolnick@vindy.com