By Mary Beth Lane
The Columbus Dispatch (Ohio)
Copyright 2006 The Columbus Dispatch
LANCASTER, Ohio — City firefighters persuaded voters to shell out more in income taxes by promising them a fully staffed third medic unit, but now City Hall is refusing to hire the manpower needed, the firefighters’ union leader said Wednesday.
K.J. Watts, president of Local 291 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, said the union plans to file a grievance if the administration fails to comply with a collective-bargaining agreement to put a minimum of 22 firefighters on each shift, up from the current 19.
The provision is included in the firefighters’ new contract. The contract took effect Jan. 1, and the minimum-staffing increase is to take effect Saturday.
Last year, voters approved a 0.15 percent income-tax increase for fire services after firefighters campaigned hard for it. The tax generates $1.2 million annually.
“We put our face out over everything and said to the citizens, ‘Trust us’ and they did, and now this slaps the citizens in the face,” Watts said.
“In the eleventh hour, the administration wants to wait because of budget problems. They are trying to solve their budget problems by using the fire levy.”
So far, the city has hired 12 firefighters of a projected 18 additional needed to staff the third medic unit around the clock, Service-Safety Director Lindel R. Jackson said.
For now, though, the administration is using overtime to avoid hiring the other six firefighters because a $1 million deficit is expected in the $24 million general fund budget by year’s end.
“We don’t want to hire new firefighters today with the potential of layoffs in January,” Jackson said.
Paying overtime is cheaper than hiring new firefighters, who receive about $39,000 in salary and $26,000 in benefits annually, he said.
So, the department remains at 89 workers, not the 95 it is supposed to have, and firefighters take the third medic unit on runs when the other two units are engaged. But that leaves a pumper truck unmanned if firefighters are out with the medic unit.
“To fully staff the third medic and run all the other equipment, it is understaffed,” Jackson conceded. “We’re asking for time to look at the situation and see how the overtime is running before we hire an additional six.”