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Youngstown to act on firefighter pay freeze
YOUNGSTOWN
City council will consider approving a contract Wednesday with the firefighters’ union that would freeze annual base-pay salaries through Aug. 31, 2014.
“Based on the times we’re in, [a salary freeze] is pretty much what we expected going” into negotiations, said David Cook, president of the 140-member International Association of Firefighters Local 312. “This gives the city a chance to regroup financially for a few years.”
The union voted heavily in favor of the contract about a month ago, Cook said.
“Anytime you get zeros, that’s great,” said Mayor Charles Sammarone about the contract.
This is the city’s sixth union to approve a contract with no increase in base-pay in the past six months.
City council is expected to vote on the contract at its Wednesday meeting.
Also Wednesday, council will consider an early-retirement incentive for about 65 workers eligible to take the offer. Employees with at least 28 years of service to the city are eligible for the incentive. Police officers and firefighters aren’t eligible.
Under the proposal, the city would buy two years of state Public Employees Retirement System time for eligible workers.
That two-year-buyout cost per employee ranges from $22,006 to $104,311, according to city officials.
If council approves the buyout, it would be available to eligible employees for a year, starting Dec. 1.
“We’re trying to save money,” Sammarone said. “We want to have money to hire more police officers and for the street department to do more demolition work.”
Replacing retired workers, who would receive the buyout plus the standard severance package — for things such as unused sick and vacation time — wouldn’t result in an immediate savings, Sammarone said.
“The big savings is not replacing those who leave,” he said.
It’s difficult to say how many employees would take the buyout, but Finance Director David Bozanich said it could save the city millions of dollars.
“There are a lot of variables on what the savings would be,” he said. “There will be significant savings if we don’t fill vacancies quickly, don’t fill them at all or consolidate jobs.”
Bozanich estimates about 60 percent of those eligible to retire would take the buyout.
If employees are replaced, new ones would likely be younger and that would reduce the city’s expenses for fringe benefits, including health care and workers compensation fees, he said.
During the last buyout offer, between Feb. 1, 2007, and Jan. 31, 2008, 80 employees were eligible with Bozanich expecting about half to take the deal at the time. Instead, 55 accepted the buyout, saving the city about $2 million over a three-year period.
Also at Wednesday’s meeting, council will consider legislation to enact a vacant-structure registration program.
Owners of vacant residential houses would have to pay $100 a year for each home to the city while those with empty commercial and industrial structures would have to pay $250 annually for each if the proposal is approved.
Councilman John R. Swierz, D-7th, said the proposal should first be considered by council’s safety committee before going to a full vote.