By Elysse James Register
The Orange County Register
COSTA MESA, Calif. — Agreement to existing contract eliminates minimum staffing and freezes pay increases until 2017.
Costa Mesa and its firefighters have agreed to a deal that restructures the department, eliminates a minimum staffing requirement and will save the city millions of dollars, officials said.
Though the city and the association already have a contract in place through 2014, both sides have agreed to proposed changes that have been discussed since October.
The Costa Mesa City Council unanimously approved the deal on Tuesday night, voting 4-0, with Mayor Eric Bever absent. The contract is dated Aug. 31.
“It’s a great agreement for both sides,” said Councilman Gary Monahan. “It guarantees we’re going to have a Costa Mesa Fire Department which is not going to be privatized, and they’re going to save us a bunch of money.”
The agreement will save the city $600,000 to $800,000 in the first year and $2 million to $3 million in the long run, said Councilman Steve Mensinger. The biggest savings come from changes to pension-plan contributions and the elimination of minimum staffing, he said.
“It’s been at times a long grind to get to this point, but we’re looking forward to continuing to serve the community and exceed the expectations for delivering services that we’ve always done,” said Fire Capt. Tim Vasin, president of the Costa Mesa Firefighters Association.
Members of the Costa Mesa Firefighters Association have agreed not to extend the contract that is set to expire in 2014. The firefighters will go without raises until 2017, pay 10.5 percent of their pension costs, increase the pension contributions for new hires to 19 percent from 10.5 percent, and reduce retirement benefits for new hires to 2 percent at age 50, with those retirees eligible for 60 percent of their salary after 30 years of service at age 50 or older, the city stated.
The deal also eliminates a minimum staffing requirement that forced firefighters to work overtime to keep a total of 30 people on each 24-hour shift. Overtime hours by at least 60 firefighters and police officers increased their paychecks by at least 40 percent over their base pay, Register reports state, with a few earning enough to nearly double their base pay.
Some firefighters had been working thousands of hours each year in overtime, Vasin said.
The city of Orange and the Orange City Firefighters Association are battling over minimum staffing requirements. In Orange, 35 firefighters must be on duty each day, but the association is asking for 38, Register reports state.
Costa Mesa firefighters still will be able to get overtime pay, but about 75 percent of the overtime will be eliminated once the department is restructured, Vasin said.
In return, the city will not reduce firefighter salaries or lay off any firefighters and will keep a 56-hour work week through 2017. The changes make the firefighters’ pension plans more financially viable, officials said.
Mensinger said the agreement will give firefighters job security because no layoff notices will go out until at least 2017, as part of the contract.
Costa Mesa residents in November will decide whether the city adopts a charter, clearing a path for the city to determine whether to pay union wages or outsource city projects to private companies. The contentious issue has drawn hundreds of people to council meetings and has been a hot topic at council-candidate forums.
The Costa Mesa council had considered outsourcing services from the Orange County Fire Authority, but voted in April to keep the city fire services and restructure the department to save money.
The Costa Mesa Firefighters Association did not have to open its contract for two more years, Righeimer said. He credited the change to Fire Chief Tom Arnold.
“This is the beginning of a great relationship with the firefighters,” Righeimer said.
Robin Leffler of Costa Mesans for Responsible Government said she’s pleased with the agreement and hopes an agreement will be made with the police association that includes hiring more police officers.
“We’re really happy this has been settled,” Leffler said.
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