Calif. agreement saves 6 firefighter jobs

After a federal grant expired, the city had originally planned to eliminate the jobs

September 27, 2012 11:04 AM

By Kevin Pearson
The Press Enterprise

HEMET, Calif. — Six Hemet firefighters will not be laid off at the end of this month under a preliminary agreement between the city and the fire union.

The Hemet Firefighters Association approved the city’s last, best and final offer in a meeting Sept. 19, 12 days before the layoffs were set to go into effect. The City Council still has to approve the agreement.

“The firefighters, we’re happy nobody got laid off,” union President Steve Sandefer said. “That was a huge win for us. On the other hand, we’re not celebrating. It was at the expense of reaching into our pocket again to make that happen.”

Hemet interim City Manager Mark Orme declined to comment on the matter, saying he still needed to present it to the council during a closed session Sept. 25, after which the council would vote on the agreement.

With a federal grant that funded nine firefighters’ jobs set to expire this week, the city had originally planned eliminate the positions, saying in a June layoff notice that it would be unable to absorb the salaries. Retaining the jobs would have put the department’s budget more than $800,000 in the red.

The city’s fire administration then worked to find other ways to cut the budget so those jobs could be retained.

The City Council had said if the department and union could make up most of the difference, it would approve covering the rest with general fund reserves.

Fire officials say they have identified cuts that would make up more than 75 percent of that budget gap. In a concession by the union, firefighters agreed to maintain a 5 percent pay cut that was due to be restored Nov. 1.

This marks the fourth consecutive year the Hemet Fire Department has either taken a cut or not had its pay restored to the level that was in its previous contract. The contract is for one year.

“We didn’t appreciate having to pay money out of our pockets to keep the levels of emergency response up to the minimum levels,” Sandefer said. “Once again, the problem is getting solved out of our pockets. We’re not excited about that.”