By Craig Fox
Watertown Daily Times
WATERTOWN, N.Y. — Annoyed with how much sick time firefighters use, the City Council on Monday night informally agreed to reduce the amount of overtime in the proposed 2017-18 budget from $631,000 to $570,000.
Mayor Joseph M. Butler Jr. recommended cutting the fire department’s overtime by $61,000 after a lengthy discussion about sick time. The majority of the council agreed to reduce sick time from about an estimated $180,000 to $120,000.
About 31 percent of the budgeted overtime expenses is associated with firefighters calling in sick and others being called in to work to make sure that a full staff of 15 is on duty at all times.
“I think that should be managed the best you can,” Mayor Butler said. “That would be my desire.”
For more than half of the 3½-hour budget session, council members grilled Fire Chief Dale C. Herman about his nearly $8.7 million proposed budget. It was the third budget session since City Manager Sharon A. Addison proposed the $42.5 million spending plan that carries a 4.5 percent property tax increase.
It’s also the third time council members brought up the fire department’s overtime expenses during the budget deliberations. Before Monday night, overtime expenses would have included a 34 percent increase, from $468,668 to $631,000.
In a sometimes heated discussion, council members questioned Chief Herman at length about why firefighters call in sick so often.
Mayor Butler wondered why it seems to happen more often during the holidays than at other times of the year. He also pointed out that firefighters called in sick more often than police officers during the past six years. In each of those years, firefighters posted a higher average for sick time than their counterparts in the police department, he said.
Councilwoman Teresa R. Macaluso said she doesn’t understand why firefighters call in sick to go to the doctor, causing them to miss their entire shift, when they could miss just an hour or two that it should typically take to go to an appointment. That practice causes overtime expenses to skyrocket, she said.
In defending the higher sick time, Chief Herman said increases in 2011 and 2013 could be attributed to long illnesses of firefighters. The average sick time used by firefighters in 2011 increased to 95.9 hours, compared with police officers using an average of 54.3 hours, In 2013, the average fire sick hours hit 96, while police officers averaged 59.9 hours.
Chief Herman told council members that a firefighter was stricken with cancer in 2011, while another firefighter suffered a serious illness in 2013 and decided to use up all of his sick time before retiring.
He also said overtime costs can be attributed partly to two vacancies caused by retirements, so firefighters routinely are brought in to work to ensure enough manpower is on duty every day.
As for any firefighters who call in six times or more, the fire chief orders them to bring in a notification from their doctor that indicates they were legitimately ill, he said
Councilman Stephen A. Jennings wasn’t buying the explanation, suggesting that the sick time expenses should be reduced further.
“I think we can do better,” he said.
Mr. Jennings said he believes the fire department is purposely driving up overtime costs amid a nearly three-year contract dispute between the city and the firefighters union. He said he believes the department can run more efficiently.
However, Councilman Cody J. Horbacz contended overtime should be kept at the $631,000 level because it might cause problems if the figure goes over the budgeted amount.
On Monday night, Chief Herman also got some bad news about his request for a new ladder truck. Mayor Butler said he agreed with Ms. Addison about leaving out a replacement for a 31-year-old ladder truck in the proposed budget. The new truck would cost an estimated $1.3 million.
During last week’s budget session, Chief Herman criticized the city manager for taking the new ladder truck out of the five-year capital program. The department also has a 2004 ladder truck that it uses on a daily basis.
Mayor Butler told him the fire department will have to make do with the two existing ladder trucks, adding that both are still operable.
“You could start their engines this morning?” Mayor Butler asked the chief, who acknowledged that they both still run.
Council members will meet again at 6:30 p.m. Thursday to discuss the budgets for the planning, engineering and public works departments.
The public will have a chance to give input to the spending plan at a budget hearing Monday. The spending plan must be adopted by the first meeting in June.
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