Facing deficit, trustees to discuss layoffs

Trustees aren’t blaming employees, one trustee says, but labor comprises the bulk of the budget.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

BOARDMAN — Trustees’ calls for higher health care contributions and lower wages from employees doesn’t sit well with union leaders who believe unions are being blamed for financial problems caused by township leadership.

“It’s their duty to negotiate,” said Harry Wolfe, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 1176. “It’s their duty to provide services to the community.”

The township’s financial situation isn’t the fault of employees, he said.

Trustees meet in special session at 6 p.m. today at the township government center and are expected to make decisions about how many people will be laid off and from what departments. The township is facing a $3.4 million deficit by the end of this year. Voters rejected a 4.1-mill levy on last November’s general election ballot that would have generated about $4 million annually for general operating expenses.

At meetings last week, trustees suggested that if employees paid more for health care and/or accepted wage cuts, they could possibly avoid or reduce layoffs.

Wolfe points out that the township and union signed a new three-year contract last month that provides 2.5 percent raises for firefighters each year.

The pact, effective April 1, 2007, through March 31, 2010, also calls for firefighters to contribute to health care: 5 percent in 2007, 7.5 percent this year and 10 percent in 2009.

If the township couldn’t afford it, why did the trustees sign the contract, Wolfe asked.

Pat Laffey, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2498, which represents the township’s 18 maintenance, clerical and some civilian police department employees, agreed.

AFSCME is the township’s newest union with its first contract inked last year.

“We went in there to negotiate a contract with the township, and we came out with [raises of] 1.25 percent, 1.5 percent and 1.75 percent after having no pay increases for 21⁄2 years,” Laffey said. “We also stepped up to the plate with the 10 percent open-ended cap” for employee health care contribution, Laffey said.

The union wasn’t told then that the township had no money and couldn’t provide any pay increase, he said.

Charles Mound, co-director of the Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, which represents police patrol officers, also says employees aren’t to blame.

“I don’t believe the patrol union is responsible for any of the financial crisis,” he said, adding that it is the only union contract with which he is familiar.

When trustees initially broached the idea a couple months ago with unions about higher health care contributions and pay freezes, both unions representing police officers responded in a letter to trustees. The letter said that the unions couldn’t reopen their contracts without the presence of their attorneys. To do so would constitute an unfair-labor practice.

The township didn’t respond, he said. “Everybody has to work together in the township and not be blaming each other,” Mound said. “This is something that affects the whole community, and the whole community has to be on the same page.”

Mark Bestic, president of the Township Workers Association, which represents 28 road department employees, agrees.

“My personal feeling is that it doesn’t do any good to point fingers at people,” he said.

He too believes some of the comments from township leaders have been unjust.

Because the TWA is in negotiations with the township, he couldn’t talk about specific suggestions made by some trustees regarding wages and health care contributions.

Robyn Gallitto, trustees’ chairwoman, said the trustees aren’t blaming or pointing fingers employees or their unions for the financial situation.

“It’s just a function of our budget,” she said. “Our budget is labor. Labor is wages and benefits.”

The union heads are given the same financial information that the trustees get, Gallitto said. All of the financial information is public record.

Township officials have been talking about appropriations outdistancing revenue for years, she said.

“The theme has been the same: We don’t have the money,” Gallitto said. “We are spending more money than we have coming in.”

Wolfe and other firefighters also add that they were never told during negotiations that they had to make a choice between raises and layoffs for members with less seniority.

They couldn’t say how it would have been received if that had been posed.

About eight years ago, firefighters agreed to a change in their contract that implemented a tiered wage system. That kept new employees at a lower wage for a longer time, Wolfe said.

He points out that firefighters’ wages are based on a 56-hour work week as opposed to the 40-hour work week. Most firefighters work a schedule of 24 hours on duty followed by 48 hours off. It amounts to 2,912 regular hours worked by firefighters per year compared with 2,080 hours for those logging a 40-hour week.

In May 2006, the firefighters union sent a certified letter to trustees offering to reopen their contract, Wolfe said. They offered to take a pay freeze, begin contributing to health insurance and wanted to eliminate the township’s seven volunteer firefighters. Trustees didn’t take them up on it, Wolfe said.

Gallitto said she doesn’t recall the specifics of that letter or why it wasn’t pursued. “If that was the offer then, can’t we pursue it now?” she asked.