Lawmakers postpone action after having only a half-hour to review proposed fire pact
By Brian Nearing
The Times Union (Albany, New York)
Copyright 2006 The Hearst Corporation
All Rights Reserved
ALBANY, New York — City lawmakers put the brakes on a proposed new four-year firefighters’ contract on Monday after some balked at voting on it with just a half-hour’s notice.
There was disagreement among council members over delaying the vote until Thursday, with some urging quick approval so firefighters would receive a check for retroactive pay before the holidays.
Under the contract, about 260 members of the Albany Permanent Professional Firefighters Union would receive raises of 3 percent retroactive to Jan. 1, 3 percent in 2007, 4 percent in 2008, 2 percent in January 2009 and 2 percent in July 2009.
Under a contract provision questioned by some lawmakers, firefighters with at least eight years’ service would no longer contribute toward their health insurance. That benefit currently applies only to union members with 10 or more years in the department.
The proposed contract also includes increases in longevity pay for firefighters with at least 20 years’ service and added annual stipends for paramedics and emergency medical technicians.
“I’m sure the firefighters had more than a half-hour to look at this before they voted on it, and I think the council should have the same opportunity,” said council member Dominick Calsolaro, a 1st Ward Democrat.
Lawmakers first saw a summary of the contract’s financial impact at 6:30 p.m., a half-hour before the council meeting in City Hall, when some lawmakers wanted to approve it. The deal was reached after more than a year of negotiations between the union and the administration of Mayor Jerry Jennings.
Council member John Rosenzweig of the 8th Ward, who wanted an immediate vote, said it was unfair for firefighters to get caught up in council questions, prompting a retort from council President Shawn Morris that lawmakers were following their own rules against taking action on a nonemergency item at the same meeting that it is introduced.
Another council member, Joe Igoe of the 14th Ward, said law makers should accept the contract because it was negotiated in good faith by the union and the Jennings administration.
CALSOLARO
But Calsolaro and council Majority Leader Carolyn McLaughlin said they wanted to understand the contract’s financial impact on the city before acting. “It’s like people can throw anything in front of you and we are supposed to say OK?” she said. “I thought we were trying to get away from that.”
A memo from assistant corporation counsel listed the costs of the various items, but it did not provide a cost over the life of the contract. And one estimate, which claimed that the free health insurance provision would cost $13,000, turned out to be inaccurate, Wells said.
Action on the contract was postponed until after an emergency caucus meeting at 4 p.m. Thursday in City Hall.
On Tuesday, city Comptroller Tom Nitido said the contract will cost city taxpayers about $7.8 million over the four years. About $4 million of that will come from higher salaries, with the rest coming from sweeteners like the free health insurance, increased longevity payments, added pay for uniforms, extra stipends for EMTs and paramedics, and an increased buyout of health insurance from firefighters who have coverage elsewhere.
“If you are a firefighter, this is a great contract, although I am concerned about the impact on the city budget,” Nitido said. He said the 3 percent raise for January 2007 is part of the city’s 2007 budget adopted last month by lawmakers, but the costs for the other benefits are not.
“We will have a built-in hole in the 2007 budget,” he said.
But Sam Fresina, president of the firefighters’ union, told lawmakers Monday that his members needed their money now. “We spent a year-and-a-half on this, and we rushed to finish,” he said. “Our guys want this passed. I told them I would try to get their retro checks by the holiday.”
Repeated attempts to reach Fresina for comment Tuesday were not successful.