Dispatcher pact in Boardman calls for no pay raises

By Ashley Luthern

aluthern@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

Trustees are expected to approve a contract with the union that represents emergency dispatchers at their next meeting Aug. 22.

Trustees have a tentative agreement with the Ohio Patrolman’s Benevolent Association dispatch unit, said Administrator Jason Loree.

“Right now, it will be on the [Aug. 22] agenda and discussed on the floor in open session,” Loree said.

The tentative agreement has wage freezes for three years and a new tiered wage scale that increases the six-year step scale to 12 years, he said.

Loree said the step scale is lower than other contracts because the dispatchers will cap out their pay at about $42,000 annually, which also is lower than the maximum salary in other departments.

Current starting wages for full-time dispatchers are $14.89 per hour or $30,971 annually, but under the tentative agreement, it would be lowered to about $11 per hour or close to about $23,000 annually, Loree added.

Township trustees said that they would hire two dispatchers, along with other department personnel, if a 3.85-mill, five-year additional police levy was approved. Voters approved that levy Aug. 2.

Loree said there would be no signing bonuses for dispatchers.

“This contract doesn’t give out any monetary increases, period,” he said.

The tentative agreement also includes the provision that employees pay 40 percent of increases to their health-care premium costs, with the township picking up the remaining 60 percent of the increase.